Jordan broadens crackdown on Islamic State

In this Sunday, June 19, 2016 photo, men pray inside the al-Makhtoum mosque in Zarqa, Jordan during the funeral of Nasser Idreis, an alleged Islamic State sympathizer who died serving a three-year prison sentence.
In this Sunday, June 19, 2016 photo, men pray inside the al-Makhtoum mosque in Zarqa, Jordan during the funeral of Nasser Idreis, an alleged Islamic State sympathizer who died serving a three-year prison sentence.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Two dozen men accused of supporting the Islamic State militant group squeezed into a cage in Jordan's state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they filed back out, and guards ushered in the next group of suspected militants.

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The court's heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group.

Hundreds of people have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about purported links to the Islamic State. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence.

Some say the crowded courtrooms -- along with recent attacks -- signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with homegrown extremism than it has acknowledged in public.

"We have an extending of the network of IS in Jordan," said Mohammed Abu Rumman, an expert on extremism, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "It is a minority, but it is very dangerous."

The militants underscored their reach last week when they launched a suicide attack from Syria, detonating a car bomb near a Jordanian border post and killing seven soldiers.

The Islamic State's 2014 capture of large parts of Syria and Iraq sent jitters through Jordan. The U.S. spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders, and Jordan joined the U.S.-led military coalition that's battling the group.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said extremism is a global problem and "Jordan is at a level just like any other societies in the world." The challenge is to reach and prosecute extremists and "make sure we have enough awareness in the society against these elements," he said.

For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan, a key ally, would be of great concern. This would include rising support for jihadi Salafism, the violent version of Sunni Islam that underpins the Islamic State and its precursor, al-Qaida.

Abu Rumman estimated that more than 10,000 Jordanians are jihadi Salafists, most loyal to the Islamic State. He said about 2,000 of them are fighting in the ranks of either the Islamic State or al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq.

Jordan's domestic jihadi Salafi movement goes back almost three decades, when Jordanians returning from Afghanistan spread the extremist message at home. Jordan's movement produced a spiritual leader of al-Qaida, Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, and the network's first chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by the U.S. in 2006.

Jihadi recruitment has been fueled by high unemployment, restrictions on political expression and the perception that the world stands by as Sunnis are being slaughtered in Syria's civil war and the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq.

In Jordan, militant strongholds include poor urban areas, remote tribal towns and decades-old Palestinian refugee camps.

In response to the rise of the Islamic State, Jordan toughened anti-terror laws, criminalizing social media support for the group. Sharing the group's material on social media can lead to five years in prison, and involvement in an actual plot far more.

The Jordanian intelligence agency closely monitors social media with an "electronic army," said Abu Rumman. "Anyone they find sympathizing with IS, they send him to court," he said.

Moussa Abdallat, a lawyer who has represented defendants in terror cases, said about 300 Jordanians have been sentenced or are on trial, most for social media support. About 300 more are being held for questioning, he said. Most are young, in their late teens and early 20s.

"There is a notable increase in the number of detainees," he said.

Court officials would not provide statistics.

During a recent session, a judge presided over a courtroom crowded with defense lawyers and the families of the accused.

In the defendants' cage, the men stood tightly packed. Some hugged new arrivals. Among them were five young men accused of being part of a cell plotting attacks on security installations.

In recent months, other reports of such terror plots have emerged, along with attacks.

In November, a police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. In June, a gunman killed five Jordanians in an attack on an intelligence agency branch in a Palestinian refugee camp.

The government has portrayed the police captain as troubled and clamped a news blackout on the June attack.

Jordan defends its anti-terror strategy, saying it is part of a broader counter-radicalization program involving 13 government agencies. Critics say the focus on jailing Islamic State sympathizers is counterproductive.

Prison creates more bonds among jihadis, while a security-focused approach risks neglecting other causes of radicalization, said David Schenker, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

As jihadi Salafism continues to spread in the region, Jordan will have to adapt, Schenker said.

"Ultimately, you are going to have more Salafists, and the king can't lock them all up," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Mohammed Daraghmeh, Layla Quran and Qassim Abdul-Zahra of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/30/2016

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