AJC Urges Jordan to Repudiate Justice Minister's Support for Murderer of Israeli Schoolgirls

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Feb 15, 2011, 01:47 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC called on the Jordanian government to repudiate the incendiary remarks of Hussein Mujalli, the Minister of Justice, who yesterday joined a demonstration demanding the early release from prison of the Jordanian soldier who murdered seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.

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Mujalli, who was the lawyer for convicted killer Ahmad Dakamseh and is a former Jordan Bar Association president, called Dakamseh a "hero" who "does not deserve prison." Mujalli was quoted as declaring, "If a Jewish person killed Arabs, his country would have built a statue for him instead of imprisonment."

Mujalli was named Justice Minister in the new Jordanian cabinet last week.

"The remarks attributed to the Jordanian Justice Minister – calling a cold-blooded murderer of schoolchildren a 'hero' and uttering an anti-Semitic slur – are beyond contempt," said David Harris, AJC Executive Director. "No decent government can justify or tolerate such vile sentiments expressed by so senior an official."

Ahmad Dakamseh is serving a life sentence for the 1997 mass murders, which he committed when an Israeli school group was visiting a scenic area on the Jordan River. In addition to the seven girls who were killed, five Israeli students and a teacher were wounded. The late King Hussein traveled to Israel to meet with the slain students' families and express his grief.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee