AmmanNet - Ezz Edian El Natour

With the Islamic State (IS)- also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)’s occupation of the Iraqi city of Mosul in mid-June,  there has been much concern that the threat can expand to Jordan.

Despite reassurances from the Jordanian government that its army and security apparatus are capable of averting any dangers, both on the border and within the nation itself, it has not disclosed exactly how it seeks to do so.

Only two weeks after IS announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, signs of support for the organization emerged in Zarqa and Ma’an, where protestors took to the street.  However, the Jordanian government took no overt steps towards suppressing these expressions of support.

Instead, the government waited until the beginning of September to launch a raid on self-described supporters of IS and subsequently,detained 11 individuals on charges of planning domestic terrorist operations after discovering explosives in their possession.

The police also inspected several supporters of Salafi movements, issuing warnings discouraging supporting IS. Furthermore, they detained and later arrested several who expressed pro-IS sympathies on social media outlets.

These arrests coincided with comments from the Jordanian Minister for media affairs, Mohamamd al-Mumni, regarding newly-established Jordanian policies towards fighting domestic extremism, after indicating that such extremism tends to be the exception rather than the norm.

‘Routine’Inspection

Hassan Abu Haniyeh, an analyst of Islamic movements, believes that the purpose of these raids was to emphasize the long arm of the Jordanian surveillance system. Additionally, he noted that Jordan has always opted for the use of their security apparatus over other plausible solutions.

Abu Haniyeh also described the latest detentions and arrests- which included supporters of Salafi-Jihadists, as ‘routine’: he indicated there are some extremist cells, both inside and outside

Jordan, that represent a significant threat, though he did confirm that he believed other, non-security solutions to the spread of extremism existed.

Jordan’s emphasis on breaking extremist information networks, stated Abu Haniyeh, was easily attributed to Jordan’s focus on averting the arrival of extremism-both ideologically and physically- on Jordanian territory.

However, as previously stated, action has not been taken towards IS supporters who are regularly using social media to express their ideas until recently.

Jordanian legislation against terrorism grants the government far-reaching legal powers to arrest those who present ideological support to extremist groups, and aid them in their expansion,using social media to those ends.

Jordanians identifying as Salafist-Jihadists number some 7,000; nearly 2,000 have left to Syria to fight for IS or the Nusra Front.

Increasing Surveillance on Religious Rhetoric

The Jordanian government has emphasized its increased supervision of religious rhetoric in the kingdom.

Police arrested seven individuals from the Tahrir Party, a pan-Islamist party declared  illegal since the 1950s,for threatening national security by posing certain ideas during mosque sermons. A member of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood was also arrested for the content of his religious sermons.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments (Awqaf) announced recently that it detained nearly 20 mosque-imams who were engaging in ‘slander and injury’ in their sermons. The Awqaf  Minister, Hayel Daoud, confirmed the detentions.

Daoud also reported to the press that they have yet to detain any imam who explicitlysupport IS, but rather, have only detained imams who express IS-type thoughts.

He did not, however, reflect on any anxieties regarding the ideological spread of IS in Jordan, emphasizing that the Awqaf is able to bear its responsibility in this particular area.

A research paper prepared by Abu Haniyeh demonstrated that Jihadist rhetoric still lacks a wide social influential incubator in Jordan to facilitate the spread of extremism.

However, Muhammad Abu Raman, a specialist in political Islam, believes the influence of Salafists and Jihadists have expanded more widely during the last few years, both within Jordan and beyond, as the result of local and regional conditions.

The two researchers agreed on the necessity for an intellectual solution to Salafist ideology and its adoption economically and ideologically.

‘War on religious extremism and Takfirism’ is not new to Jordan. Since the 1990s, Jordan has been facing extremist trends and its dangers. This culminated in 2005, when several explosions hit hotels in the Jordanian capital, Amman, resulting in the deaths of 60 people.

Despite this, Jordan’s response to ISIS still not clear. Currently, the government is increasing security on the borders with Syria and Iraq, continuing security operations internally and has joined the coalition to fight IS.

Some analysis indicates that the role of Jordan in this coalition is logistical and intelligence-based, despite no official comment from the Jordanian government. Jordan might very well be wary of entering a military offensive against IS, given threats to national security.

Using any means of spreading information, via information networks or the internet to ease the performance of terrorist acts or supporting any group that performs terrorist activity or spreading their ideas or funding them or performing any activity that exposes Jordanians or their property to danger.