Reports have been circulating in the last week regarding increased US pressure on Jordan to extradite freed prisoner Ahlam al-Tamimi. Reports indicated that the Arab country called on Hamas to arrange her deportation from Jordan or she would be handed over to the United States.
Ahlam al-Tamimi, a Jordanian-Palestinian national, was the first woman to join the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
US pressure to extradite al-Tamimi
Al-Tamimi was freed from Israeli prisons in 2011 in the Gilad Shalit swap deal between Hamas and Israel. However, in 2017, the the United States Department of Justice filed criminal charges against al-Tamimi, placing her on the “most wanted terrorist” list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and demanding Jordan hand her over to the US.
The case was filed by the US against al-Tamimi under seal in 2013, but announced publicly by the Department of Justice in 2017. As a result, an arrest warrant was issued against her by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
In September 2016, Ahlam was arrested by the Jordanian branch of INTERPOL. After spending one night in detention, she posted bail and started her legal fight against the US extradition request through Jordanian courts.
Jordan’s legal and political stance
In 2017, a Jordanian court ruled that Ahlam could not be extradited as she has Jordanian citizenship and because a 1995 extradition treaty with the US was not ratified by the Jordanian parliament.
Nevertheless, subsequent US administrations persisted in exerting pressure on Jordan to extradite al-Tamimi. In 2020, the Trump administration reportedly considered withholding aid to Jordan until it agreed to hand Ahlam over to the US.
Although the INTERPOL dropped the arrest warrant against al-Tamimi in 2021, the Biden administration said in 2022 that it was still seeking her extradition from Jordan.
The deportation of al-Tamimi under US pressure has consistently provoked the rage of the Jordanian grassroots, as they consider such an act unlawful and inconsistent with Jordanian moral code.
Jordan’s broader struggle with US policies
The Jordanian government has always been between the hammer and the anvil when it comes to the United States’ policies towards the Palestinian cause–policies which the vast majority of Jordanian people oppose.
The US pressure on the Jordanian government has become increasingly evident, and not only in relation to al-Tamimi’s case. Reports indicated that Jordan refused to allow Jordanian prisoners freed through the current captives-for-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel to enter the country.
Trump’s recent proposal that Jordan and other countries host displaced Palestinians from Gaza, is yet another example of the Jordanian state’s subordination to US foreign policy.
