Scores of Jordanian activists and unionists on Monday demonstrated in front of the country's ministry of justice, urging the immediate release of a soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.
Ahmad Dakamseh is currently serving a life sentence with hard labour for the killings, in which he fired at his victims with an automatic weapon on them as they visited Baqura, a scenic peninsula on the Jordan River.
Five other schoolgirls and their teacher were wounded, dpa reported.
Dakamseh said at his 1997 trial that he behaved in retaliation for the "crimes" committed by Israeli occupation troops against the Palestinian people, according to judicial sources.
Newly-appointed Justice Minister Hussein Megalli addressed the demonstrators, saying "Dakamseh should not have been sent to jail".
"If he were an Israeli who killed Arabs they will have certainly set up a monument for him in appreciation of what he has done," said Megalli, a lawyer with Islamic inclinations who joined the new government of Marouf Bakhit last week.
The idea of launching a fresh campaign for the release of Dakamseh was inspired by demonstrations which Jordanians held over the past few days to celebrate the Egyptian uprising.
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