Jordan editor charged with incitement freed on bail

Jordanian military prosecutors on Sunday released on bail a local news website editor charged with anti-regime incitement, a judicial official told AFP. “Jamal Muhtaseb, chief editor of Gerasa News, was released today on bail,” the official said without elaborating. Muhtaseb was arrested after publishing a report on a graft probe into a $7 billion housing project. He was arrested and charged in April by the state security court after a report on his website quoted an unnamed lawmaker as claiming “lower house deputies had received royal directives not to indict a former minister for alleged graft.” Last year, the government opened an investigation into the huge housing project for low-income citizens after calls by parliamentarians to probe suspected corruption. Gerasa News reporter Sahar Muhtaseb, sister of Muhtaseb, was also charged and arrested in the same case but later released on bail of 5,000 dinars ($7,000/5,300 euros). International rights organizations, oppositions Islamists, youth groups and journalists have repeatedly demanded Muhtaseb’s release.