Jordan sentences lawmaker to 10 years in prison for smuggling weapons into West Bank
Imad al-Adwan was arrested by Israel last year with 200 guns found in his car, then handed over to Jordanians for trial
A Jordanian court sentenced one of the kingdom’s lawmakers to 10 years of hard labor after convicting him of smuggling weapons into the West Bank.
Imad al-Adwan was arrested at the Israel-administered Allenby Border Crossing (also called the King Hussein Crossing) between Jordan and the West Bank on April 22, 2023, when Israeli security forces found 12 rifles and 194 pistols in his car, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said at the time.
Israel transferred him to Jordanian authorities in May last year, and he was eventually convicted of exporting weapons with the intention of illegal use after being stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
Three others were also convicted in the case and sentenced to lengthy prison time by the Jordanian State Security Court.
Adwan is a lawyer and a member of the Jordanian parliament’s Palestine committee.
Since February 2022, Adwan had used his diplomatic passport 12 times to smuggle various goods, including “birds, pigeons, electronic cigarettes and gold,” according to the Shin Bet, which interrogated him before he was handed to the Jordanians.
In 2023, he began smuggling weapons across the border “out of greed,” and received large sums of money, it said.
Adwan’s arrest by Israel tested already tense ties between Amman and Jerusalem, though Israel was quick to clarify that it did not hold the kingdom responsible for the smuggling attempt.
A surge of violence and terror attacks has wracked the West Bank over the past year, aided by a flood of illegal weapons, including many guns smuggled from Jordan.
