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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A former imam who shot dead writer Nahed Hattar on the steps of the palace of justice on Sunday, faces execution after confessing to the shooting, Al Arabiya published.

Riyad Abdullah, 49 years old, gave himself up to police after he killed the writer who was facing prosecution for insulting Islam. Abdullah performed the Hajj pilgrimage, a week before the crime.

Now it has been revealed that the killer was the imam of one of Amman mosques six years ago before being dismissed by the Ministry of Religious affairs. It is understood that he is not a member of any terrorist organizations.

Abdullah was remanded for 15 days and charged with premeditated murder, a crime that is punishable by death in Jordan. He recognized his victim, he told police, through a search for his image on the Internet after the caricature of God was published on a Facebook page.

He admitted to the killing and said he did not regret what he did, adding: “Any person misrepresents the Divine Entity must be killed”.

It is understood the defendant bought the gun last week, he walked, Sunday morning to the justice palace located in the region of the Abdal, and waited the victim one hour before the writer was to stand a trial.

Hattar, a Christian and an anti-Islamist activist who was a supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was arrested last month after he shared a caricature that depicted a bearded man in heaven smoking in bed with women and asking God to bring him wine and cashews.

Many conservative Muslim Jordanians considered Hattar’s move offensive and against their religion. The authorities said he violated the law by sharing the caricature.