Anti-govt Protest In Jordan Over Murder Of Writer

AMMAN, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -26th Sep,2016) - Protesters called on Monday for Jordan's government to resign over its failure to prevent the murder of Christian writer Nahed Hattar, as the killing was condemned internationally.

A bearded assailant on Sunday shot dead Hattar, 56, on the steps of a court in central Amman where he was facing trial for sharing an anti-Islam cartoon on social media. His family has so far refused to collect his body for burial, charging that authorities were warned of threats to Hattar's life and had failed to act.

Hundreds of sympathisers and members of the writer's tribe protested outside the premier's office on Monday. "The people want the fall of the government... No security, they killed Nahed in Amman!" they chanted.

Carrying his portrait, they called for the resignation of both Prime Minister Hani al-Malki and Interior Minister Salama Hammad. "We handed over 200 Names (of people who had threatened the writer) to the governor (of Amman), including that of the assassin, and demanded protection," said Khaled Hattar, one of the victim's brothers.

"But he refused, saying there was 'no real threat'." Jordan's judiciary on Monday slapped a media blackout on the murder, a day after he was gunned down on arrival at the court. The information ministry said the aim was to preserve "the secrecy of the investigation" and that the blackout applied to both social and traditional media.