Proceedings of 5th Session of a Court Martial on the Coup Attempt Against the King of Jordan, 31 July 1957

Printed in Arabic, this archival item documents the proceedings of the 5th session of the Court Martial on the coup attempt against the King of Jordan which was held on Sunday, 31 July 1957 at the King Abdullah II Air Base, in the presence of Colonel “Abed el-Karim al-Barghouti” and Colonel “Ahmad Baslan” along with “Taher Ashihabi” and “Adnan Biyoun”, together, they did the secretary related work.  The Defense Committee included the following attorneys; Anwar Nusseibeh, Fuad Abd el-Hadi, Hasan Habib Hawwa and Azziz Shihadeh; whereas the session was inaugurated by the Chief Colonel Major “Aukash Azzain” who requested from the representative of the Prosecution General to present the witness, therefore, the Committee Member and the Representative of the Prosecution General; Colonel Muhammad Assadi invited the witness; the First lieutenant; “Muhammad Salim Abu Ridn” to continue his testimony; where he was questioned  by “Aukash” on his previous testimony saying that Chief “Natheer” spoke with a group of his about the royal family, however, the witness denied such thing, then he asked him about when did he meet with “Nayif al-Hadid” after being visited by “Ghassab Soud” and told that there are some people planning for a conspiracy against the king, therefore, he confirmed that he saw him but didn’t speak with him, afterwards, the witness answered some inquires on the maneuvers in addition to the night of the attempted coup; saying that he didn’t execute the plane given by “Natheer”  explaining that he was afraid of the punishment.  Following the witness’s telling; the First Lieutenant “Abdullah al-Ghasib” was invited as another witness who was asked by the Chief Colonel Major “Aukash Azzain” about his name, number, unit and work as a Leader of the 4th Brigade at the Battalion of Armored Forces and the extent to which he knows the suspects and if they share any relationships, he answered saying he knows most of them including “Ali Abu Nuwwar”, “Ali al-Hayyari”, “Mahmmoud al-Musa” and “Natheer Rashid”, moreover, he was questioned about his relation to “Karim Aqlih”, confirming that they were just colleagues. Afterwards, he confirmed that his role during the manoeuvre of Hashim was in Jerusalem; where he counted the arriving and leaving cars of the royal family, later, the session was closed until the next morning.