The lawyer of the spiritual head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia has lashed out at the Australian government for failing to intervene after a Jordanian court sentenced the controversial cleric to a year in a maximum-security prison for anti-regime and Islamist activity.
Ismail Al-Wahwah was found guilty of “inciting against the regime”, “insulting the position of the king and Arab leaders” and “being a member of an illegal organisation” when he faced the Jordanian State Security Court on January 15.
Each charge carried a sentence of one year in jail but they will be served concurrently.
The 61-year-old former taxi driver from western Sydney has been detained in Jordan since July 25 last year, when he was arrested by intelligence services on arrival in Amman, having flown to the capital to visit family.
His lawyer, Musa Al-Abdallat, told The Weekend Australian that his client did not receive a fair trial, as the charges stemmed from Facebook posts and political involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir — an illegal organisation in Jordan — while he was in Australia.
Read the article by Elias Visontay in The Australian.