Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Iraq's Foreign Minister on Tuesday apologized to Jordan for an incident where cadres of the Iraqi Embassy in Amman attacked Jordanian activists during a function held in the capital last week.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari passed on the apology to his Jordanian counterparts for the actions committed by security personnel of Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan Jawad Abbas on Thursday, Iraqi official sources told Ammon News.

The source, speaking on the phone with Ammon News from Baghdad, said that the Iraqi cabinet discussed on Monday the implications of the incident in the presence of Ambassador Abbas, and culminated in FM Zebari passing on the apology to his Jordanian counterpart, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh over the phone.

Iraqi authorities decided to launch an investigation into the incident, and vowed to hold accountable embassy staff members if found to have been involved in the beating of the activists.

FM Judeh relayed the Iraqi message of apology to the parliament during Tuesday evening's Lower House session.

Judeh told lawmakers that his Iraqi Counterpart stressed the strong relations between the two countries.

The Minister told the Lower House that he stressed to FM Zebari that "Jordanian dignity is preserved and no one will be allowed to offend it."

Zebari told Judeh that the Iraqi cabinet decided to question Iraqi Ambassador Abbas and will withdraw any embassy staff members proven to have been involved in the beatings.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ambassador Abbas told Ammon News over the phone from Baghdad that the Iraqi cadre's reaction was "harsh and wrong," citing that his government is considering measures to contain the incident that has stirred an angry reaction from the Jordanian public.

A video clip showing cadres of the Iraqi Embassy in Amman reportedly beating Jordanian Ba'athist activist during an embassy reception last week stirred hundreds of protesters to demonstrate in front of the Embassy in Amman on Monday and Tuesday, calling for expelling the Iraqi Ambassador from Jordan and reprimanding its cadres.



An edited video clip, broadcasted by an Iraqi TV channel and later went viral, shows embassy cadres attacking Jordanian pan-Arab Ba'athist activists who walked into the function and chanted slogans against Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki and in support of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist regime.



Among the Jordanian activists reportedly beaten by embassy staff and security was Ziyad Najdawi, a Jordanian Ba'athist and attorney who represented Saddam Hussein and was part of the late president's defense team.

Najdawi reportedly sustained broken bones and was beaten badly. Other lawyers were also attacked in the incident, provoking the Jordan Bar Association to issue a strongly-worded denunciation against the Iraqi Embassy. 



The incident occurred last Thursday at the Royal Cultural Center in Amman to commemorate what the Iraqi Embassy called "Mass Graves in the Era of the Saddam Hussein." 



Hundreds of protesters on Monday demonstrated in front of the Iraqi Embassy, mostly Ba'athist activists, protesting the attacks that took place during the reception.

The protesters chanted slogans in support of the "revolutionaries in Al Anbar and Fallujah" in Iraq, the mainly Sunni tribal Western region of Iraq that has been witnessing ongoing tensions with security forces. 



Earlier on Tuesday, MPs hailed denunciations of the incident, with one MP, Khaled Hiyari, giving the government a 48-hour ultimatum to obtain an apology from Iraq.

MPs called for expelling the Iraqi Ambassador from Amman, and reacted to the incident by raising pictures of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in parliament.

The Arab and International parliamentary committee called on the Iraqi government to replace Ambassador Abbas, citing the insult to Jordanian dignity in the "atrocious" beating, kicking, and throwing metal chairs on the activists.