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.
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.
“I saw his lifeless, blood-drained body just now,” his wife, Randa KakishHattar, 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?”
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.”
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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.
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.
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
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