Jordan sentences three men to death over deadly attack on Greek Orthodox church

The verdict

A State Security Court in Jordan sentenced three men to death by hanging on Sunday, 15 November, for the attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Hammoud village, in the Karak governorate in the south of the kingdom. The court found the defendants guilty of terrorist acts that caused deaths, possession of weapons and ammunition intended for attacks, conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and promoting the ideas of a terrorist organisation. The Jordanian army announced the ruling in a statement, and its wording is quoted below.

“The State Security Court issued its ruling sentencing to death the three criminals who carried out the terrorist attack.”

The official Petra news agency reported that the charges counted six offences, including terrorist acts that caused the deaths of nine people, listed as nine separate counts. The convicted men can challenge the sentence on appeal to a higher court, and the articles give no date for any such hearing.

The attack

Gunmen opened fire inside and outside the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George in Hammoud village on Friday, 23 October, while a funeral was under way. Police said the attackers entered the church grounds and fired on mourners taking part in the funeral ceremony. Nine people were killed, and the count of wounded differs between accounts, with some reports giving 25 injured and others 40. Karak governorate has about 375,000 residents and a large Christian community, while Christians make up roughly 3% of Jordan's 11 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. Public Security described the attackers as extremists who hold takfiri ideology. The attack shocked a kingdom where assaults of this kind are rare, and Jordan is usually presented as an example of coexistence between religious communities.

The arrests

The three attackers fled after the shooting. Accounts differ on how long the manhunt lasted: Al Jazeera reported arrests three days later, while BBC Arabic said security forces found the men after four days, hidden in an abandoned house in Karak. According to Public Security, the suspects refused to surrender and opened fire on the security forces, who returned fire and wounded them before the arrest. The timeline below sets out the key dates in the case.

Reaction and next steps

King Abdullah II called the attack terrorist, visited the wounded and pledged that the perpetrators would face a very harsh penalty. He had earlier warned that the security and protection of Jordanians was a red line that must not be crossed. Thousands of Jordanians took part in the funerals of the victims in Karak and Amman. The ruling is the first judicial step, and the three men retain the right to appeal it to a higher court.