Jordanian airport officials on Thursday refused to let the spokesman of the Palestinian radical group Hamas from entering the country, a government source told official Petra news agency, cited by AFP.
Ibrahim Ghoshe was deported from Jordan along with three other Hamas leaders in November 1999 after being accused of membership in an illegal organization and taking part in plots to "destabilize" the kingdom.
"Airport officials were surprised today to see Ibrahim Ghoshe arrive on board a flight from Doha and told him he could not enter the country in line with an agreement previously reached with the authorities," the source said.
Ghoshe flew into Queen Alia airport aboard a Qatari flight from Doha, to which he and the other three Hamas leaders were expelled in 1999, said AFP.
The source said the plane's pilot informed the Jordanian authorities that he had "strict instructions from the Qatari government not to return Ghoshe to Qatar."
"Engineer Ghoshe was informed that he could not enter the country because the agreement with the government prevents entry to any one who belongs to a non-Jordanian movement to undertake political activity inside Jordanian territory," the unnamed official quoted by Petra said.
The official "denounced" Ghoshe's violation of the previous accord with the Jordanian government, the agency said.
Meanwhile, head of Hamas’s politburo told Qatari paper Al Raya on Wednesday that all mediation efforts for his and his colleagues’ return to Amman have failed, but vowed they would return “despite Jordanian authorizes’ rejection.”
Mishaal did not specify a date for his return, but said that chances for his colleagues, Ghoshe, Moussa Abu Marzouq and Izzat Rishiq are stronger than his.
He said Amman could tolerate the other members’ presence, but not his – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
