Jordan (MNN) — International Christian Concern notes that last Monday, three Islamic extremists were sentenced to imprisonment for more than two decades. Jordan's military court issued a 22 1/2 year sentence for the trio's plot to bomb a Catholic church last May.
The Associated Press notes that the militants were given such a heavy sentence because the judge believed that their plot posed a "danger to the state and its people," even if the plot had failed.
Although located in the Middle East, Jordan is generally known to be a moderate Muslim country. More than 90 percent of Jordan's population is Sunni Muslim; Sunni and Shia are the two main branches of Islam. Sunni Muslims comprise a majority of the world's Islamic community. Christians make up about four to six percent of the population in Jordan.
Traditionally, The Christian Post and ICC notes that both Jordan and northern Africa's Sunni-dominated Algeria have a record of religious freedom. However, a recent U.S. State Department report warns that the nations have become new "hotspots" of Islamic fundamentalism and religious intolerance. Please pray for peace to be restored in Jordan and Algeria.
