Jailed Salafi leader goes on hunger strike Three suspected jihadists have been arrested near the Syrian border by the Jordanian authorities on Tuesday. The arrest follows plans to crack down on the number of Islamist fighters infiltrating Syria. Border patrols arrested the three Jordanian nationals early Tuesday after discovering several automatic weapons and ammunition in their possession.
Mousa Abdullat, lawyer for the Jordanian Salafi movement, confirmed that the three suspects -Mohammed al-Nashmi, Abu Thaer Sweiti and Fares Khalailelh- are members of the movement who were previously fighting in Syria.
According to the Salafi lawyer, the three men had spent the past month fighting alongside a coalition of Arab Jihadist forces in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
According to the security source, Amman strengthened their security forces along the northern border last week to stem a flow of Islamist fighters, which jihadists claim has led to the entry of over 150 Jordanian Jihadists into Syria.
The move aims to close several gaps along the 370km borderline, which officials say has been used by dozens of Arab Islamist hardliners to cross into Syria.
The renewed security campaign has led to a series of arrests of members of the local Jordanian Salafi movement. The authorities accused them of funding and supporting the growing number of Islamist fighters entering Syria.
Leader of the movement Abu Mohammed al-Maqdissi, who is currently in jail, announced that he will start a hunger strike on Wednesday to protest against the bad detention conditions.
Speaking to the local press, his son Mohammed said that al-Maqdissi is denied essential medicine for his illness. He also said that his father has asked to be transferred to a jail where his family lives.
Maqdissi was serving a jail sentence supposed to end three years ago. Since then, he was kept in detention in the same prison for \"security reasons\".