Jordan detains expelled parliamentarian Osama Al-Ajarmeh

Jordanian MP Osama Al-Ajarmeh was arrested on Wednesday, although no details of the accusations against him were given.
2 min read
17 June, 2021
Al-Ajarmeh was previously suspended and then expelled from parliament [NurPhoto/Getty]

Jordan has detained a politician recently kicked out of parliament, according to reports on Thursday.

Osama Al-Ajarmeh was arrested Wednesday, the country's Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said.

He explained that this followed a notice from the State Security Court's attorney general, the official Jordan News Agency reported.

The agency did not detail what Osama Al-Ajarmeh is accused of.

Lawmakers decided in June to exclude Al-Ajarmeh from the House of Representatives, Arab News said.

This followed accusations he had provoked rioting.

In Naour, an area of Amman where the Ajarmeh tribe is prominent, some of the politicians' supporters were involved in confrontations with authorities, resulting in four police being injured.

Al-Ajarmeh was filmed "insulting King Abdullah II" as he held a sword and had a holstered gun, according to Arab News.

Prior to this, he was suspended from the House for one year following a tape that appeared to show him insulting the body while it was nationwide power cuts were being discussed.

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Al-Ajarmeh had suggested this was done deliberately to prevent a demonstration in the capital, Amman.

The protest was to secure the removal of Israel's ambassador given Israel's deadly May airstrikes against Gaza.

Following his suspension, he handed in a note detailing his resignation.

In this, he criticised the monarch's legal ability to dissolve Jordan's parliament.

He was subsequently filmed suggesting he form a "radical Jordanian right-wing" to "purify Amman of the liberal elite".

Jordan's tribes have significant political power.

During the alleged coup against the king in April, Prince Hamzeh was accused of significant involvement.

His wife's tribe, the Kufr Khall, released a statement slamming the Jordanian government for "bringing the name of the Jordanian Princess Basmah Bani Ahmad Al-Otoum into [it]".

She was accused of speaking with an alleged Israeli Mossad agent who reportedly offered to fly her and her children out of the country.

The purported Israeli agent denied having served as an intelligence operative, insisting that he is a "close personal friend" of her husband.