Jordan has sentenced former parliament member Imad al-Adwan to 10 years in prison for supporting the Palestinian resistance.
The Jordanian State Security Court on Wednesday sentenced Adwan to 10 years of hard labor after he was arrested last year for attempting to bring weapons into the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces arrested Adwan at the border between Jordan and the occupied West Bank in April last year after they found “12 rifles and 194 pistols in his car,” said Israel's internal spy agency, known as Shin Bet.
In May 2023, Jordan charged Adwan with smuggling weapons into the West Bank and revoked his parliamentary immunity after Israel handed him to the Jordanian authorities.
Adwan's arrest sparked outrage in Jordan, where he was celebrated as a hero for his support of the Palestinian resistance.
"I’m not satisfied with the state's response. The conditions imposed by the Israelis for Adwan's return are unacceptable. He shouldn't be tried," Salah al-Armouti, a lawmaker who voted against the lifting of Adwan's immunity in the parliament, told The New Arab after his indictment in May 2023.
Three others also received a 10-year prison sentence, alongside Adwan.
The ruling comes despite the Jordanian people's strong support for the oppressed Palestinian nations in the occupied territories, especially since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza in October last year.
Protests are regularly held in different cities, including in the capital Amman, where people usually gather near the Israeli embassy. The protesters have been demanding Jordan to end its peace treaty with Israel.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 44,056 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 104,268 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
Israel has ramped up violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since it launched the genocidal war in Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians and abducting thousands of others.