Jordanian authorities threatened today to force Ibrahim Ghoshe, a Jordanian citizen and spokesman for the militant Palestinian Hamas group, back on to the Qatari airplane that brought him to Jordan.
Mr Ghoshe, of Palestinian origin, has been locked in a standoff with Jordan since his arrival at Amman's airport on Thursday from Qatar, when he attempted to return home after living in exile since 1999.
According to Jordanian officials, the pilot of the Qatar Airways plane on which Mr Ghoshe arrived had received orders to fly back to Doha without him.
But the plane is still parked at the Amman airport, from which it has been refused permission to take off.
Jordan has the right to put Mr Ghoshe back on the airplane, "even if by force," Jihad Rsheid, head of the civil aviation authority, was quoted by the official Petra news agency as saying.
Mr Rsheid accused Qatar Airways of having planned in advance Mr Ghoshe's return to Jordan on Thursday night, after his exile to Doha along with three other Hamas leaders in November 1999.
"Sadly the Qatari airlines are trying to wash their hands of this business, which they planned and prepared," he said following Jordan's demand Friday for Qatar to suspend all flights to Amman.
AFP