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Last Updated: Thursday, 21 December 2006, 10:52 GMT
Jordan tourist attacker to hang
Armed police at scene of Amman shooting
Police arrested the gunman at the scene of the shooting
A Jordanian court has sentenced a man to death by hanging for a gun attack that killed a British tourist visiting Amman and injured six other people.

Nabil Ahmad Jaoura, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, is said to have been motivated by anger at Western policies towards Arabs in the region.

He is said to have acted alone and had no links to violent organisations.

British accountant Christopher Stokes was killed in September's shooting outside Amman's Roman amphitheatre.

Five other tourists and a Jordanian policeman were hurt by bullets fired from Jaoura's pistol. Jaoura was arrested at the scene of the shooting.

As the sentence was read out in Jordan's state security court, Jaoura shouted in Arabic: "God is great!" and "We are the masters, not the slaves."

"I am a holy warrior and I thank God for this verdict," he said.


In an interview with the BBC before the hearing, Jaoura's wife Mariam said two of his brothers had been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon more than two decades ago.

She said he had become increasingly angry watching Israel's conflict with Lebanon this summer - an event that, according to the BBC correspondent Jon Leyne, seems to have triggered a long-awaited act of revenge.

Many Jordanians are critical of Western governments' stance towards the region, particularly their apparent support for Israel's policy towards the Palestinians and for the US occupation of Iraq.

A large proportion of Jordanians are descendants of Palestinian refugees.

The government of Jordan is allied to the US and the West.

In November 2005, scores of people were killed in suicide bomb attacks on three hotels housing visiting Westerners in Amman.

Hundreds took to the streets to protest against the attacks, believed to have been organised by the Jordanian-born militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Zarqawi was killed by US forces in Iraq earlier this year.

Trial of Amman 'gunman' opens
18 Oct 06 |  Middle East
UK tourist speaks of gun terror
05 Sep 06 |  Middle East
Gunman fires on Jordan tourists
04 Sep 06 |  Middle East

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