By Mohammad Ben Hussein and Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - Authorities announced on Thursday they would release next week four prisoners, 13 months after they were transferred from Israel, where they were serving life sentences.

The four men were sent back home to serve time in a Jordanian prison after an agreement was reached with Israel in this regard.

According to Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Major Mohammad Khatib, the men will be freed on Wednesday, August 20, after Jordanian authorities notified Israel of its decision to have them freed in accordance with Jordanian laws. Khatib cited Article 34 of the Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres Law.

He told The Jordan Times that the Justice Ministry had last year explained to the Israeli side that this law allows freeing prisoners after serving three quarters of their sentences if they exhibit good conduct while serving time. He said this applies to the four inmates in question, who were serving the agreed upon time in Qafqafa prison near Jerash.

Salem and Khaled Abu Ghalyoun along with Amin Al Sane’e were arrested on November 8, 1990 after they killed an Israeli soldier in a cross-border infiltration. The three men were members of Jordan’s security agencies.

Five days later, Sultan Ajlouni staged a similar operation killing another Israeli soldier. The four prisoners had been serving life terms in Israeli prisons since 1991, three years before Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty - ending six decades of belligerency.

Jordan has been keen on releasing its prisoners in Israel amid a growing sense of frustration that has been brewing within Jordanian society over the benefits of the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty in 1993.

“This is what we expected from the government. It fulfilled its promise. This is positive and we thank them,” said Saleh Ajlouni, brother of Sultan.

“As much as we are glad to have our sons freed, our happiness is not complete because more of our brothers remain in Israel prisons,” Saleh said, naming also Nayyef Khaabneh, who was killed in the attack he carried out with the Abu Ghalyoun brothers. Israel still keeps his remains, he said. He also pointed to another deceased comrade, Youssef Rawashdeh, who went missing in 1991 after he was killed in fighting with Israel.

The Foreign Ministry has pledged to follow up on the files of all Jordanian prisoners in Israel and everywhere else. In the past few months, Jordanians jailed in Syria were freed following a summit of His Majesty King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In addition, the government has proposed to Iraq to swap prisoners so that they spend the rest of their terms in their home countries.