- Title: JORDAN: FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR MURDERED IRAQI DIPLOMAT.
- Date: 21st January 1998
- Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (JANUARY 21 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: FUNERAL PROCESSION 0.04 2. GV: MOURNERS MARCHING BEHIND COFFIN 0.07 3. MV: MARCHERS WITH WREATHS 0.13 4. GV: PROCESSION 0.18 5. CU/SV: MOURNERS CRYING/ MOURNERS CARRYING COFFIN AND CHANTING/ COFFIN PUT IN HEARSE (2 SHOTS) 0.42 6. GV/MCU: DIGNITARIES OFFERING CONDOLENCES/ MOURNERS CRYING AND CONSOLING ONE ANOTHER (3 SHOTS) 0.57 7. GV: MOTORCADE WITH COFFINS TRAVELLING TO IRAQ BY ROAD 1.13 8. GV/MV: AIRPORT/ OFFICIALS/ COFFIN OF ASSASSINATED IRAQI NAMEER AUCHI BEING PUT ON PLANE TO LEBANON (5 SHOTS) 1.53 Initials S.3 - P.3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 5th February 1998 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AMMAN, JORDAN
- City:
- Country: Jordan
- Reuters ID: LVAAZMPUTIJVE6CEI36W6OKHYHGJ
- Story Text: INTRO: Hundreds of people attended the funeral procession of an Iraqi diplomat and his wife who were murdered in the Jordanian capital at the weekend.
About 200 attended the funeral procession of Iraqi diplomat Hikmat al-Hajou and his wife.
The procession began at the Iraqi Ambassador's residence and ended at the diplomat's home.
The Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Abdallah AL-Nossoer, a number of ambassadors and staff from the Iraqi Embassy were in attendance.
Eight people, including the Iraqi ambassador's deputy, Hikmat al-Hajou, were found stabbed to death early on Sunday in a mansion in the affluent Amman suburb of Rabia owned by wealthy Iraqi businessman Sami George, who was among the victims.
George, 63, a Christian Iraqi, had been living intermittently in Jordan since the 1980s.
Among those killed was businessman Nameer Auchi, 48, a brother of British Iraqi tycoon Nadhmi Auchi, chairman of the Luxembourg registered General Mediterranean Holding Company.
Nadhmi Auchi, who has recently stepped up major hotel investments in excess of $150 million in Jordan, chartered a plane from Amman airport to fly his brother's coffin to Lebanon where he will be buried. Nameer, who is married to a Lebanese, was involved in the firm's extensive multi-million dollar Lebanese enterprises, mainly in tourism.
The killings were the second reported attack on an Iraqi diplomat in Jordan in two weeks, after the attempted shooting of Iraq's commercial attache there earlier this month.
Jordanian police have found two cars used by the unknown assailants to escape early on Sunday after committing a crime which they say has all hallmarks of a professional hit squad. One of the cars was the slain Iraqi envoy's vehicle bearing diplomatic number plates, a security source told Reuters.
Police are interrogating a Greek woman, Anistasya Lidaki, 37, a friend of businessman George, who survived the attack with several stab wounds and is providing crucial evidence on the identity of the murderers, another Jordanian security source said.
The woman, who has said she saw four or five attackers speaking with a distinct Iraqi accent, is in stable condition and is recovering in hospital, where she is under heavy security.
Forensic experts say the victims were killed over a period of two to three hours and that Hajou, who apparently showed up at the villa to deliver a message late on Saturday, was the last victim to be murdered, a senior police source said. All the victims were chained and stabbed to death.
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