Jordan Turns Down US Extradition Request For Female Bomber

A Jordanian court ruled that Ahlam Tamimi, the accomplice to a terrorist bombing at the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001 will; not be extradited from Jordan to the US. Jordan’s Petra News Agency said the court upheld a decision by the Amman Court of Appeals that an extradition treaty between the US and Jordan is not in force. While the two countries signed an agreement for the extradition of criminals in 1985, it was never approved by Jordan’s National Council. According to the Jerusalem Post, Tamimi, who lived in the West Bank at the time, has admitted to helping a Palestinian suicide bomber by scouting out a target and leading him into the restaurant in August, 2001. Fifteen civilians were killed, including eight children and one pregnant woman, and 130 were wounded. Two fo the dead were Israeli citizens. In 2003, Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences and 15 years in an Israeli jail, but she was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The families of the two American citizens killed in the bombing urged the US to apply for her extradition.