Jordanian Salafists protest against detention

The leader of the Jordanian Salafi Jihadi movement Mohammed Shalabi, commonly known as Abu Sayyaf, has threatened to begin an open sit-in if the government does not respond to the group's demands. Abu Sayyaf told Arabstoday that his colleagues had carried out a sit-in protest outside the Prime Minister's headquarters in Amman on Tuesday, against the prolonged detention of the group's leaders in Jordanian jails. He explained that the Salafists would hold a weekly sit-in protest outside government's headquarters, adding that the demonstration would become a permanent fixture if the authorities did not respond and release the detainees within a month. The Islamist leader claimed that the Salafists in Jordanian prisons had been subjected to harassment by the prison officers, and urged security officials to stop carrying out raids to arrest Salafist leaders at night because they cause fear and panic among women and children. Abu Sayyaf also confirmed that around 500 of the 5000 Salafists in Jordan are currently fighting in Syria.