This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/world/middleeast/nahed-hattar-jordanian-writer-killed.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Jordanian Writer Is Fatally Shot Extremism Boils Over in Jordan as a Writer Is Killed for Insulting Islam
(about 4 hours later)
AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian writer and columnist was fatally shot on Sunday morning outside a court here, according to a statement released by the official Petra news agency. AMMAN, Jordan — Some of the most extreme elements in Jordan made clear in recent weeks that Nahed Hattar should pay for a provocative cartoon he posted online depicting a bearded man in bed with two women ordering God to bring him cashews and wine.
The writer, Nahed Hattar, 56, was shot three times, and a suspect was arrested near the scene, according to Petra. Mr. Hattar, a Christian, was arrested in August and charged with inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam after sharing a cartoon on Facebook that showed a bearded man in bed with two women ordering God to bring him some wine and cashews. So when Mr. Hattar, 56, a prominent writer from a Christian family, showed up at a court on Sunday to face criminal charges of insulting Islam, at least one man with a gun decided a trial was not enough. As three bullets ripped through the writer in front of the courthouse, Jordan’s simmering tensions boiled over.
His post was widely denounced on social media, and he removed it shortly after. He deactivated his Facebook account and released an apology that said he “did not mean to offend anyone.” The apology, using another name for the Islamic State, also said the cartoon “mocks ISIS terrorists and their concept of heaven.” He was released on bail earlier this month. The brazen daylight killing of Mr. Hattar in front of his horrified family was not only the latest example of violence tied to cartoon renderings of Muslim figures, it was also the sort of manifestation of extremism that Jordan’s government has struggled to contain in a nation that finds itself under pressure from multiple directions.
He had gone to the court for the trial when he was shot. While presenting itself as a stable outlier in a tumultuous region, Jordan maintains a complicated balancing act of its own, split between traditional tribes, Palestinians, a potent jihadi community and now more than 650,000 refugees from the grinding civil war in Syria. As Jordan strives to stay neutral in Syria and off the Islamic State’s radar, the cartoon Mr. Hattar posted on Facebook proved just the sort of lighter fuel to feed the flames.
A government spokesman, Mohammad Momani, said in a statement on Sunday, “We will hold the perpetrator who committed this despicable act to justice, and the government will respond with an iron fist to anyone who uses this incident as an opportunity to spread hate speech in society.” Never mind that after an across-the-board social media backlash, Mr. Hattar quickly removed the cartoon, deactivated his Facebook account and apologized, saying he “did not mean to offend anyone.” If the government hoped that arresting him would tamp down the anger among the more violent sections of Jordanian society, it misjudged.
At the family meeting hall in Amman where photos labeling Mr. Hattar a martyr were stacked at the entrance door, family members consoled one another. Some scrolled through their mobile phones trying to find more information about the assailant. “I saw his lifeless, blood-drained body just now,” his wife, Randa Kakish-Hattar, said in an interview several hours later at her home where she was mourning with friends and family. “His two children saw him shot and killed before their eyes. And for what? For sharing a cartoon on Facebook?”
Mr. Hattar’s younger brother Majed, 51, was with him when he was attacked and still had blood on his clothes and shoes. Majed Hattar said he had chased the gunman and caught him by holding his beard. Family members accused authorities of not doing enough to guard him against death threats. “Nahed apologized about the cartoon,” Saif Hattar, a cousin, said. “It was misunderstood. We believe the ISIS poisonous mentality was the cause of this but the government failed to protect him.”
According to Saif Hattar, 48, a cousin, “This happened despite the government knowing that Nahed is a prominent person, that he received hundreds of death threats.” A suspect in the shooting was captured near the scene, according to the government, which vowed harsh action. “We will hold the perpetrator who committed this despicable act to justice, and the government will respond with an iron fist to anyone who uses this incident as an opportunity to spread hate speech in society,” Mohammad Momani, a government spokesman, said in a statement.
“We will not accept the body of the martyr, and there will be no funerals until we claim our rights. It’s very wrong what happened today,” the cousin said. Jordan, an important American ally surviving in part on billions of dollars of aid from Washington, has sought to find ways to keep its Islamist forces in check. The Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt, was allowed, through its political wing, to take part in Jordan’s parliamentary elections last week. The wing, along with other Islamists, won 15 of 130 seats, while women won 20, a record for the nation. By happenstance, Jordan’s government resigned on Sunday, part of the normal process after elections.
“Nahed apologized about the cartoon,” he added. “It was misunderstood. We believe the ISIS poisonous mentality were the cause of this but the government failed to protect him.” But with the Syrian civil war so close, the kingdom’s leaders fear that extremism will cross its borders or arise from within. In June, three intelligence officers and two other government employees were killed at a Palestinian refugee camp. In November, a Jordanian police officer fatally shot two American trainers, a South African trainer and two Jordanians at a training compound in Amman.
The writer’s wife, Randa Kakish-Hattar, mourned with close family and friends at her home on Sunday. She said she had tried two days ago to persuade him to leave Jordan, but he refused. Parody involving Islam has inspired violence in various countries over the last decade, from cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a bomb-toting terrorist published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 to the attack last year on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical publication in Paris, killing 12 people.
She also expressed shock and disbelief about what was happening in the country. Mr. Hattar wrote columns for Al Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, often about nationalism and Islamic political thought that reflected a secular, leftist point of view. At various points described as a communist and supporter of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, he was imprisoned several times for his political activism.
“His two children saw him shot and killed before their eyes,” she said. “And for what? For sharing a cartoon on Facebook?” Before his death, Mr. Hattar said that he shared the cartoon not to insult Islam but to point out the hypocrisy of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In his apology statement, he said the cartoon “mocks ISIS terrorists and their concept of heaven.”
The killing was condemned by the Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, by civil organizations and by labor unions. His explanation did not satisfy his most virulent critics. “The apology and the clarification from Hattar is no less of an apostasy than his caricature,” Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, one of Al Qaeda’s most influential ideologues and the spiritual mentor of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the slain Jordanian-born leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, wrote on Twitter in August.
“The murder of Hattar targets democracy and diversity in our society and aims to spread darkness and terrorism,” said Nidal Mansour, the president of the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists, in a news release. “Even though we disagree with what Nahed says or writes, this is the time to stand united against terrorism and those who killed him. They want to instill fear and silence us.” Relatives said Mr. Hattar received more than 100 death threats, many through Facebook and some by telephone. In one message they played for a reporter, a caller said if justice did not take place, he would kill Mr. Hattar by “tearing out his heart from his chest.” The family said it went to the governor to submit the death threats but no action was taken.
Jordan, a United States ally, has long presented itself as a realm of tolerance and stability in an increasingly volatile region. The Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt, was allowed, through its political wing, to take part in parliamentary elections last week. It won several seats, as did 20 women, a record for Jordan. “This happened despite the government knowing that Nahed is a prominent person, that he received hundreds of death threats,” said Saif Hattar, his cousin.
But the country has been shaken by the Syrian civil war raging just over its northern border, and the government has struggled to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled the violence. After Mr. Hattar’s death on Sunday, a range of organizations in Jordan spoke out against the killing, including the Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The kingdom’s leaders fear, with good reason, that extremism will cross its borders or arise from within them. In June, three intelligence officers and two other government employees were killed at a Palestinian refugee camp. In November, a Jordanian police officer fatally shot two American trainers, a South African trainer and two Jordanians at a training compound in Amman. In March, officials said they had foiled a major Islamic State plot to strike civilian and military targets. “The murder of Hattar targets democracy and diversity in our society and aims to spread darkness and terrorism,” Nidal Mansour, the president of the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists, said in a statement. “Even though we disagree with what Nahed says or writes, this is the time to stand united against terrorism and those who killed him. They want to instill fear and silence us.”
By coincidence, Jordan’s government resigned on Sunday, part of the normal process after elections. At the family meeting hall in Amman, relatives consoled one another.
His wife, Mrs. Kakish-Hattar, said she tried to convince Mr. Hattar to leave the country just two days earlier, but he refused.
Mr. Hattar’s younger brother, Majed, 51, was with him when he was attacked and still had blood on his clothes and shoes. He said he had chased the gunman and caught him by holding his beard.
More than 1,000 residents joined relatives on Sunday evening in Fuheis, a largely Christian suburb northwest of Amman where the writer came from. “We meet today in pain and sorrow,” said Huwaished Akroosh, the president of the municipality. “We have confidence in his majesty the king and for safekeeping this country and its people. ”
The gathering turned into a march down the main street toward Fuheis Circle, with hundreds of people chanting together. “The extremists were afraid of you, so they killed you,” they chanted. “Your blood was not spilled in vain.” They also chanted, “Down with the government. Down with the interior minister.”