Zarqawi's mentor held again

2005-07-06 22:21

Amman - The spiritual guide of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi is back in a Jordanian jail on Wednesday, only days after being let out, despite the fact that he recently questioned the tactics used by Iraq's bloody insurgency.

Isam Mohammad Taher al-Barqawi's supporters accused Washington of pressuring its long time Jordanian ally to imprison the cleric amid United States attempts to cut off help to the insurgents, partly by sealing Iraq's borders to ensure that no fighters slip across from neighbouring countries.

One of scores of supporters said: "The order came from US President George W Bush, the supreme master of Arab leaders."

The supporter swamped a Muslim website with messages of sympathy for al-Barqawi who was detained for questioning after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday.

Terrorist groups

Deputy prime minister Marwan Muasher said al-Barqawi, also known as Sheik Abu-Mohammed al-Maqdisi, was arrested "on charges of making contacts with terrorist groups outside Jordan" since his release a week ago.

Muasher said: "If the charges are proven right, then he will be taken to court."

Hours before his arrest, al-Barqawi preached restraint to Iraq's insurgents.

He said: "The number of Iraqis killed in suicide operations has become a tragedy for Iraq's people ... the mujahedeen (holy fighters) must revise their tactics and I must emphasise that I have reservations about these actions.

"We believe that military operations are possible, if only necessary."

Minimising terrorist attacks

He said he preferred al-Zarqawi reduce suicide attacks so "no harm would befall Islam," but did not elaborate.

In previous messages to al-Zarqawi, including some he wrote from his prison cell and posted on the internet last October, al-Barqawi called for minimising terrorist attacks to "spare the blood of fighters and Muslim money" until a more appropriate time to wage all-out war.

In the half-hour television interview, al-Barqawi called al-Zarqawi "my brother."

He said the Jordanian, responsible for scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was "sincere and compassionate" to his followers, despite his "bloodthirsty" image.

Al-Barqawi, al-Zarqawi shared a cell-block

Al-Barqawi, a native of the West Bank town of Nablus, and al-Zarqawi, who hailed from the prominent Jordanian Bani Hassan Bedouin tribe, shared a cell-block for four years between 1995 and 1999.

Both were freed in an amnesty. Al-Zarqawi later went to Afghanistan, then to Iraq.

Al-Barqawi was arrested for a different terror plot that targeted Israelis and Americans during millennium celebrations in Jordan.

He was acquitted by a military court, which later tried him for another terror plot, and found him innocent last October.

He remained in jail for eight months without explanation and was released last Tuesday.

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, authorities took al-Barqawi into custody from his home in Russeifa.

- AP