Christian widow Siham Qandah was informed January 31 that apart from direct intervention by Jordanian King Abdullah II, she would be jailed in early February for refusing to hand over her two minor children to be raised as Muslims.
The Irbid Court of First Instance sentenced her to 30 days’ imprisonment if she failed to surrender her children to their Muslim guardian.
“I was very surprised to receive such a decision,” Qandah said. “I am not a criminal. I feel so sad and so scared of losing my children.”
According an aide to the royal family, the arrest order has been “deferred.” “We are trying our best to postpone the decision of the court to jail her,” he said.
Qandah’s Christian husband died in 1994 while serving in the U.N. Peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.
Later, an Islamic court informed her that he had converted to Islam several years earlier and under Jordanian law her daughter Rawan and son Fadi were automatically considered Muslims.
(CD)
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