Defendant in murder of retired intelligence officer pleads not guilty

AMMAN — A 37-year-old man, who is standing trial at the State Security Court, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering a retired security intelligence officer in Madaba in October of 2017. 

The defendant is standing trial on charges of plotting subversive acts that led to the murder of retired General Intelligence Department (GID) Maj. Gen. Habis Hanayneh, who had served as head of the Antiterrorism Unit.

The victim was at his house on October 23, which was under contruction, when he was allegedly murdered. 

The defendant is also charged with possessing an illegal weapon.

The charge sheet said that the defendant, a former engineer working at the Madaba Municipality, left to Russia in 2005 to continue his education.

“While studying in Russia, the suspect was questioned by the Russian authorities and believed that the GID and the Jordanian ambassador in Russia had a hand in what was happening to him,” according to the charge sheet.

Upon returning to Jordan, the suspect worked at the Madaba Municipality but “experienced troubled times and again believed that the GID had a role in that”.

As a result, according to the charge sheet, the defendant started posting entries on his Facebook page that showed “his frustration and anger towards security agencies and high-level officials in Jordan”.

“The defendant plotted to take revenge and kill any intelligence officer, and knew that the victim was visiting his house which was under construction in Madaba,” according to the charge sheet.

On the day of the incident, the charge sheet stated, the defendant headed to the victim’s house “and the minute he saw him, he asked about his identity and then shot him four times in the head, chest and legs, in front of his wife”.  

The defendant then fled the area and was later arrested by a special task-force that was assigned to investigate shooting, the charge sheet said.  

The defendant also ushered investigators to the place he had hidden the gun he allegedly used to murder Hanayneh, the charge sheet said.

A ballistic analyst showed that the bullets used to kill the victim were fired from the seized weapon, according to the charge sheet.

At the end of the court session, the defendant’s lawyer, Subhi Theeb, contested the court’s jurisdiction arguing that his client should be tried at a civil court.

The court adjourned the session until January 6 to examine the lawyer’s argument and to summon the prosecution’s witnesses.