Iraq 'apologises' to Jordan after Saddam supporters beaten

Jordan on Tuesday summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires after employees at Baghdad's embassy beat and kicked Jordanian supporters of Saddam Hussein at a seminar on mass graves in Amman. "The foreign ministry today summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires to condemn this assault that contradicts all diplomatic norms," Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the lower house of parliament in a televised meeting. "The charge d'affaires was told that Jordan does not accept such actions." Judeh said he received a call from Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, "who said his government has decided to investigate the incident, question the Iraqi ambassador (Jawad Hadi Abbas) and recall all those involved." State-run Petra news agency cited an Iraqi foreign ministry statement saying Zebari "expressed his government's apologies and dismay at these provocative actions that do not meet the orientations of the new Iraq." Judeh told MPs that "the Iraqi embassy made a mistake by holding the seminar (on Thursday) without coordination with the Jordanian foreign ministry." The MPs called on the government to "take all necessary means to punish the attackers, expel the Iraqi ambassador and demand an Iraqi government apology," Petra reported. A YouTube video shows Iraqi embassy employees beat and kick Jordanians who took part in the seminar after they criticised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and praised Saddam, who was executed in 2006. Dozens of Jordanians demonstrated outside the Iraqi embassy on Tuesday and Monday demanding Amman expel the ambassador. Tens of thousands of Iraqis fled to Jordan following the US-led invasion of their country in 2003.