Warrant Officer Mohammad Jaradat is expected sometime in the coming few months to stand before a Spanish court for sabotaging Spanish heritage, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
On August 13, the accused, who was part of a delegation sent to Seville by the Jordanian government to purchase a military aeroplane, visited Alhambra, in nearby Granada, the regional daily Ideal reported last Tuesday.
"Jaradat, was part of a Royal Jordanian Air Force team who was taking part in a training mission at a Spanish aviation company last month," the official, who spoke to The Jordan Times on condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
"He was touring Alhambra and apparently wanted to leave his marks in a place he thought he would never see again in his life. Tourists who saw him carve his name on the walls of the archaeological site reported him to the local police who interrogated him in the presence of a translator and an appointed lawyer," the official said.
Spanish prosecutors charged the officer with commission of a crime against the nation's historical heritage, punishable by a fine and up to three years in prison, was reported in Ideal.
After nearly six hours at the police station in Granada, Jaradat paid a fine of around JD300 and was bailed out pending trial before a Spanish court.
"Upon his return to Jordan, Jaradat was court-martialled for his act," said the official who stressed that what the officer did is not acceptable; it was the behaviour of an individual, which does not reflect that of Jordanians by and large.
The Jaradat story was picked up by several foreign news agencies, said the official, which, the defendant's lawyer said, will have a negative impact on the case.
Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, is a walled royal palace and fortress, the jewel and symbol of the Islamic Nasrid dynasty.
It is considered one of the masterpieces of Arabic architecture anywhere in the world.
By Hani Hazaimeh
