AMMAN // Jordan has expanded its fight against ISIL to the internet, with several citizens already facing charges for promoting the extremist militant group online.
Jordan is one of five Arab countries taking part in US-led airstrikes against ISIL positions in Iraq and Syria.
While the country has seen no militant violence since the strikes began in September, there are fears that it will become a target.
“Jordan is in a strong position to fight extremism and terrorists because of its vigilant security institutions, judicial structure, the awareness of its citizens and the inclusive political system we have,” said Mohammad Momani, minister of state for medial affairs and communications. “They [terrorists] are being closely watched by the security.”
At least 55 people have been charged with terror-related activities since Jordan joined the US in the fight against ISIL. Of these, 23 are charged with promoting terrorism on the internet.
By using highly produced propaganda on social media websites, ISIL has been able to draw thousands of foreigners to its ranks. While most come from the Middle East and North Africa – hundreds have come from Europe and as far away as North America.
Jordanians make up the largest group of foreigners fighting with extremist groups in Syria and Iraq – after Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.
An estimated 2,000 have joined extremists in Syria and Iraq, said Hasan Abu Hanieh an independent expert on Islamic groups.
“The vast majority of fighters with ISIL are from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Jordanian fighters were split between ISIL and Jabhat Al Nusra but now we are seeing more defections towards ISIS.”
Meanwhile, an estimate by the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation in 2013 – before ISIL expanded its operation to Iraq – said 2,089 fighters from Jordan had gone to Syria. There were also 1,016 fighters from Saudi Arabia, 970 from Tunisia, 890 from Lebanon and 556 from Libya.
“The public mood is shifting in the region towards supporting extremist groups more radical than Al Qaeda after the Arab Spring, the coup in Egypt and the chaos in Libya, Yemen and the war in Syria and Iraq,” said Mr Abu Hanieh.
“ISIL has become a magnet for the youth who are unconvinced with the reform process.”
Jordan was able to quell a swell of protests in 2011 after King Abdullah promised to make political reforms.
But the slow pace of those reforms, coupled with poverty, unemployment and US support of Israel have all led to rising anger among Jordanians.
Unemployment among people between 19-24 years old stands at 29.2 per cent, among the highest in the region. The country is also grappling with a refugee crisis, disruption of gas supplies from Egypt and a US$3 billion (Dh11bn) budget deficit and soaring public debt.
Such frustrations have increased sympathy with ISIL, which traces its roots to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the Qaeda leader killed in Iraq by the US in Iraq in 2006.
In many parts of Jordan, Al Zarqawi is still seen as a hero and is eulogised in poems.
“Authorities are dealing with extremists in a security-minded manner while their ideology is growing,” said a former security officer who dealt with Islamic groups.
“This is an ideology that needs to be countered with an ideology. We should have accommodated them long time ago. The problem lies when the youth do have not much to lose.”
Authorities have also moved to bring some of the country’s more than 8,000 mosques under tighter control by weeding out preachers who deliver fiery pro-extremist sermons.
“We have stopped 25 imams from preaching because they violated regulations,” Ahmad Ezzat, spokesman for the ministry of religious endowments and Islamic affairs, told Agence France-Presse.
Last week, Jordan’s king promised to clamp down of radical preachers.
“The war on these terrorist organisations and their radical ideology is our war because we are targeted and we must defend ourselves, Islam and the values of tolerance and moderation by fighting extremism and terrorists,” King Abdullah II said in a November 2 speech.
“Everyone who supports this extremist takfiri ideology or tries to justify it is an enemy of Islam, the homeland and all noble human values.”
Waseem Abu Ayyash, 35, a perfume vendor, is accused of promoting ISIL by sharing its videos, photos of its fighters and flag, and calling for Jordanians to support the group while using the pseudonym Abu Obaida Al Urdini.
If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison with hard labour.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Mr Abu Ayyash this year praised a video of ISIL and other extremist groups releasing Sunni women from a Shiite prison in Iraq in January.
His family says he was only sharing news – not promoting terrorist ideology.
“He was arrested because he praised the tribes who released women from Abu Ghraib prison,” said one of Mr Abu Ayyash’s brothers outside the courtroom. “The same video was posted by Al Jazeera, Al Sawsana and others,” he said. “Because my brother prays, this was taken against him.”
Most of ISIL’s supporters in the country come from the banned Al Salafiyeh Al Jihadiyeh movement, which has about 7,000 members, according to researchers.
The group is a Salafist sect that espouses an ultraconservative version of Islam and shares the ideology of Al Qaeda. Some of its younger members appear to attracted to ISIL’s ideology.
For now, they only cheer for ISIL from the margins, so they are not a threat, said Marwan Shehadeh, who studies Islamist movements.
Al Salafiyeh Al Jihadiyeh “do not have a leadership and the movement is fluid. Authorities are keeping close tabs on them,” he said.
“For ISIL, Jordan is not a land of jihad for now. But they consider it as a passage to free Palestine.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
