BICOM

The United States is bringing criminal charges against a Jordanian citizen involved in a Hamas terror attack in Jerusalem in 2001, and has requested her extradition.

The US Department of Justice said that Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi is charged with “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death”.  Al-Tamimi drove a suicide bomber to the centre of Jerusalem and escorted the attacker to the Sbarro pizza restaurant where he detonated a bomb that killed 15 people, including two American citizens.

Mary McCord of the US Justice Department’s National Security Division said: “Al-Tamimi is an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing that injured and killed numerous innocent victims.” She added that the charges against Al-Tamimi “serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget—and we will continue to seek to ensure that they are held accountable”.

A US Department of Justice statement acknowledged that “Jordan’s courts, however, have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals”.  The statement emphasised that “The US has worked, and will continue to work with its foreign partners to obtain custody of Al-Tamimi so she can be held accountable for her role in the terrorist bombing”.

Al-Tamini was convicted in an Israeli court after pleading guilty, and sentenced to 16 life sentences. She was released in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange with Hamas to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Al-Tamini returned to Jordan, where she still lives.