Tamimi Family to King: Do Not Extradite Our Daughter to US

The family of Ahlam al-Tamimi has appealed to Jordan’s King Abdullah II to resist pressure from Washington to extradite her to the United States for her role in the 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing, which killed 15 people in Jerusalem. An additional 130 people were wounded in the blast. Tamimi, a Hamas adherent, was given multiple life sentences by an Israeli court for having escorted the suicide bomber to the site, but was released as part of the 2011 prisoner swap that freed Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped by the Islamist group. Once freed, she moved to Jordan, where she has worked as a television host. In 2013, however, the United States sought her extradition to stand trial because two of those killed in the Sbarro attack were American citizens. US officials redoubled their efforts in recent years, but Jordan maintains she cannot be extradited because its parliament never ratified a 1995 treaty between the two countries. Washington is now weighing an end to the $1.6 billion in foreign aid it provides each year to Amman. Tamimi’s family urged Abdullah to “close the file,” saying Washington’s extradition demand was “based on political, and not legal, considerations.”