Jordanian woman convicted for insulting king 'receives royal call'

Jordanian woman 'receives phone call from King Abdullah' after conviction for insulting him

A Jordanian woman's conviction for insulting King Abdullah has sent shockwaves in Jordan.

2 min read

15 April, 2021

The woman was convicted for "misusing her tongue against the King" [Getty]

A woman received a phone call from after being handed a prison sentence for insulting him, according to media reports.

Days after being convicted for insuling the monarch, Athar Nawwaf Abd Al-Karim Al-Dabbas claimed in an unverified Facebook post from an account bearing her name that she had received a call of support from the king.

The unverified post said that the king told her to "keep your spirits high; you are a sister to me".

An court on 29 March convicted Al-Dabbas, 34, of a misdemeanour for "misusing her tongue against the king", ��’s Arabic-language service reported.

The offending remark came amid a dispute at a carpark with Amal Hussein, a journalist and peace ambassador, according to media reports.

Hussein allegedly said: "His Majesty is above all, and there is no one higher than him. Your father is below him."

Al-Dabbas replied: "Who mentioned the king? To me, my father is better than the king and the entire world."

For this, she was handed a one-year sentence, but the court subsequently ruled that the prison term would be suspended, ��'s sister reported.

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In the Facebook post mentioning the phone call from the king, Al-Dabbas added that she "feel[s] proud of His Majesty as the father of each Jordanian man and woman".

"And you are our father, our leader, our sovereign, and a crown over our heads," she continued.

The authenticity of the profile has not been confirmed.

News of Al-Dabbas' jail sentence sent shockwaves through Twitter.

Many have begun using an Arabic hashtag translating to "My father is better than the king".

Commenters often also included Arabic-language hashtags related to the , who was accused of participating in a 'coup' against the king earlier this month.

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