Jordan detains MPs for pro-Zarqawi sentiment

AMMAN - Jordan has detained four mainstream Islamist deputies for allegedly voicing sympathy for the slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The four deputies were questioned by the prosecutor general and detained over statements they gave in support of Jordanian militant Zarqawi, killed on Wednesday in a joint US-Iraqi operation helped by tip-offs from Jordanian intelligence.

"They were held for questioning by the prosecutor general and detained," government spokesperson Nasser Joudeh told Reuters without elaborating.

One of the deputies, Mohammed Abu Faris, had attended prayers for Zarqawi's soul during Friday prayers in the militant's birthplace in the industrial city of Zarqa, 25 km northeast of Amman, and called him a "martyr", witnesses said.

The three other deputies in custody had visited his family in Zarqa and offered their condolences.

Zarqawi's family received hundreds of wellwishers who flocked to a tent set up near their home in the working class city to pay their respects.

Born Ahmed Fadhil al-Khalayleh to a notable family that is part of the biggest tribe in Jordan, Zarqawi grew up in the dusty streets of Zarqa, where unemployment is high and Islamic militancy widespread.

Jailed by Jordanian authorities for several years in the early 1990s, Zarqawi went on to fight US forces in Iraq, where Osama bin Laden named him the "prince" of al Qaeda in Iraq.

"These deputies should have parliamentary immunity and this shows how much the authorities have regard for democracy," Zaki Bani Rusheid, the head of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the largest political bloc in the 110-member parliament whom the four deputies are members.

Jordan brands Zarqawi as a terrorist and says he is the mastermind behind the triple hotel bombings that killed 60 civilians last November.

- REUTERS