Five years ago today, a Jordanian court rejected a US request for the extradition to Washington of confessed bomber #AhlamTamimi, whose victims included US nationals. The 1995 extradition treaty was invalid, it ruled, since Jordan had not complied with its own laws in signing it.
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In reality, Jordan has extradition treaties with multiple countries that it respects. As for the US treaty, it respected that too between 1995 and 2017. The legal "flaw" could have been easily fixed and still can. Jordan's leaders clearly prefer it to be thought of as broken.
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Documents we obtained from the @StateDept via a FOIA suit in 2021 show that (unmentioned by the Jordanian court) the 1995 treaty was ratified by King Hussein, father of today's king.
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It's offensively absurd that Jordan, the world's second-largest recipient of US aid, dictates to the US how and to what extent US law will apply to certain terrorists if they are Jordanian. The obscene freedom of @FBIMostWanted Tamimi sends the worst possible message.
If you're tracking the dates, you'll know I slipped. Today, March 14, 2022, is the fifth anniversary of the US unsealing terror charges against #AhlamTamimi. The Jordanian court ruling, rejecting the validity of King Hussein's treaty with the US, came 6 days later. Sorry.
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