NEWS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 Indian students of Swaminarayan Gurukul in traditional attire practice Garba, a traditional dance of Gujarat state, ahead of the Hindu festival Navratri in Ahmadabad yesterday.— AP Jordanian writer gunned down outside... Oman Air disables misnamed ‘Persian’... Continued from Page 1 released on bail in early September. Continued from Page 1 Other monarchies in the bloc, particularly Saudi Arabia, The attorney general had imposed a blackout on accuse Iran of meddling in Arab affairs, especially in The gunman, a 49-year-old resident of the capital, media coverage of the case against Hattar, who was In 2010, Tehran said it would not grant air access to Syria and Yemen. The Gulf is home to the Bahrain-based gave himself up to police at the court, the source also known as a leftist. Prime Minister Hani Al-Malki had planes using the term “Arabian Gulf” on their inflight US Fifth Fleet, and Iran and the United Arab Emirates are added. Jordanian media, citing anonymous officials, ordered Interior Minister Salam Hammad to summon maps. Oman is the only state in the six-nation Gulf embroiled in a territorial dispute over the sovereignty of identified the shooter as Riad Abdullah from northern the writer and to initiate legal proceedings against him. Cooperation Council to have friendly relations with Iran. three islands in the waterway. —Agencies Hashmi, a poor neighborhood in Amman. The reports Yesterday, Hattar’s brother Majed, who accompanied said Abdullah had recently returned from a trip abroad, him to his trial, blamed the government for his death. but gave no further details. The Khabirni news site said “We hold the prime minister, the minister of the interior Opposition activist detained over tweets... Abdullah had confessed to police that he was upset and the security services responsible for Nahed’s killing,” over the cartoon. An AFP journalist saw blood on the Majed said. “Nahed Hattar was killed in cold blood in Continued from Page 1 The lawmaker called on the health ministry and steps of the building where police had cordoned off the front of the highest institution of justice in Jordan.” The Municipality to explain the issue to consumers amid area of the shooting. government denounced the killing as “heinous” and In a related development, MP Abdullah Maayouf yester- alleged reports from the United States claiming contamina- A judicial source later said the assailant was remand- said the law would be “firmly applied to the person who day asked the government to clarify the position over tion and official Egyptian denials. Authorities have said that ed for 15 days and charged with premeditated murder, committed the crime”. reports claiming that Egyptian fruit and vegetable exports Egyptian products will be tested before they are allowed to meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted. The opposition Muslim Brotherhood and Dar al-Iftaa, could be contaminated with serious diseases like hepatitis. enter Kuwait. The suspect, an education ministry employee, had act- the highest religious authority, also condemned the ed alone and was not linked to any “terrorist” group, a attack. Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coali- source close to his interrogation said, asking not to be tion fighting IS in neighboring Iraq and Syria, and was Divided OPEC heads to key talks named. targeted in a June 21 suicide bombing that killed seven Mohammad Al-Jaghbir, Hattar’s friend, told AFP he border guards. The kingdom has carried out air strikes Continued from Page 1 economies and left pumping below capacity. Last had witnessed the killing. “We were climbing the steps targeting IS militants and also hosts coalition troops on week, an oil tanker left the key Libyan port of Ras Lanuf when a bearded man... got a pistol out of a bag he was its territory. On the other hand, mutual desperation could favour with the first crude shipment from the terminal since carrying and fired at Nahed Hattar,” he said. Hattar’s Hundreds of Jordanians have been sentenced to a consensus, given the toll that low prices have inflict- fighting halted exports in 2014. Russia meanwhile family said the writer had no protection despite hav- prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for question- ed on OPEC economies. judges a possible five-percent reduction of its produc- ing asked for it after receiving death threats on ing about links to IS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa has tion to be realistic. But Pierre Terzian, who runs the Facebook and by phone. Hattar was a political com- even liking or sharing the group’s propaganda on social notably said OPEC could call a special decision-making newsletter Petrostrategies, said Russia has never mentator known for his antipathy towards Islamists media can land someone a prison sentence. But yester- meeting in Algiers. Bloomberg has reported Saudi reduced or frozen its production. “They say it, but will including Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood and also his day, social media accounts of prominent Islamists in Arabia is willing to cut production provided Iran freezes they do it?” support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Jordan and elsewhere were celebrating Hattar’s death, its output at current levels. Tehran lifted production to For Saudi, a too-sharp upturn in prices could also The cartoon Hattar posted on his Facebook page fea- saying he deserved it for blasphemy. 3.6 million barrels per day last month, according to the backfire as it would drive production in the US, which tured an illustration of God under the title “God of Anja Wehler-Schoek, resident director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), approaching its pre- has now adapted to recent low pricing thanks to tech- Daesh”, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Jordan, said she found the sanction 4.0 mb/d levels. Even so, the Saudi conces- nological innovation. The temptation then is to await a group. Hattar removed the cartoon after it triggered social media posts “shocking”. The German foundation sion could founder on old rivalries. “OPEC, in the cur- rebalancing of the market, Appert said. Prices have outrage on social media. At the time, he explained on promotes democracy and political education in the rent context, no longer exists, because the political strengthened since lows at the start of the year and Facebook that the cartoon made fun of “terrorists and region. “This is clearly a very dark day for Jordan, which divergences are such that the secretary general finds it currently stand at around $45 a barrel, within striking how they imagine God and heaven, and does not insult has long been celebrated as a model of peaceful coexis- difficult to control anything at all,” said Olivier Appert, distance of the $50 to $60 range desired by some OPEC God in any way”. tence,” she said. “I am very worried we are seeing the head of the French Council of Energy. members. But the glut is such that it looks set to last at He was arrested on Aug 13 and charged with inciting end of an era here and more and more problems to Like Iran, Libya and Nigeria are reluctant to limit pro- least six months longer than previously thought, the sectarian strife and insulting Islam, before being come in the future.” — Agencies duction after conflicts that have weakened their IEA said this month, causing prices to fall back. — AFP .