FUHEIS, Jordan: Demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration in this town northwest of the capital Amman yesterday, denouncing the killing of prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar (portrait). - AFP

AMMAN: A prominent Jordanian writer was shot dead yesterday on the steps of a court where he was facing charges for sharing an anti-Islam cartoon on Facebook.

Nahed Hattar was struck by three bullets before the alleged assassin was arrested at the scene of the shooting in Amman's central Abdali district, said the official Petra news agency.

The assailant - bearded and dressed in a grey dishdasha worn by conservative Muslim men - shot Hattar, a 56-year-old Christian, as he made his way up the steps outside the court, a security source told AFP. Hit in the head, he was pronounced dead on arriving at hospital, the source said.

The gunman, a 49-year-old resident of the capital, gave himself up to police at the court, the source added. Jordanian media, citing anonymous officials, identified the shooter as Riad Abdullah from northern Hashmi, a poor neighborhood in Amman. The reports said Abdullah had recently returned from a trip abroad, but gave no further details. The Khabirni news site said Abdullah had confessed to police that he was upset over the cartoon. An AFP journalist saw blood on the steps of the building where police had cordoned off the area of the shooting.

A judicial source later said the assailant was remanded for 15 days and charged with premeditated murder, meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted. The suspect, an education ministry employee, had acted alone and was not linked to any "terrorist" group, a source close to his interrogation said, asking not to be named.

Mohammad Al-Jaghbir, Hattar's friend, told AFP he had witnessed the killing. "We were climbing the steps when a bearded man... got a pistol out of a bag he was carrying and fired at Nahed Hattar," he said. Hattar's family said the writer had no protection despite having asked for it after receiving death threats on Facebook and by phone. Hattar was a political commentator known for his antipathy towards Islamists including Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and also his support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The cartoon Hattar posted on his Facebook page featured an illustration of God under the title "God of Daesh", using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. Hattar removed the cartoon after it triggered outrage on social media. At the time, he explained on Facebook that the cartoon made fun of "terrorists and how they imagine God and heaven, and does not insult God in any way".

He was arrested on Aug 13 and charged with inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam, before being released on bail in early September. The attorney general had imposed a blackout on media coverage of the case against Hattar, who was also known as a leftist. Prime Minister Hani Al-Malki had ordered Interior Minister Salam Hammad to summon the writer and to initiate legal proceedings against him.

Yesterday, Hattar's brother Majed, who accompanied him to his trial, blamed the government for his death. "We hold the prime minister, the minister of the interior and the security services responsible for Nahed's killing," Majed said. "Nahed Hattar was killed in cold blood in front of the highest institution of justice in Jordan." The government denounced the killing as "heinous" and said the law would be "firmly applied to the person who committed the crime".

The opposition Muslim Brotherhood and Dar al-Iftaa, the highest religious authority, also condemned the attack. Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting IS in neighboring Iraq and Syria, and was targeted in a June 21 suicide bombing that killed seven border guards. The kingdom has carried out air strikes targeting IS militants and also hosts coalition troops on its territory.

Hundreds of Jordanians have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about links to IS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence. But yesterday, social media accounts of prominent Islamists in Jordan and elsewhere were celebrating Hattar's death, saying he deserved it for blasphemy.

Anja Wehler-Schoek, resident director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Jordan, said she found the social media posts "shocking". The German foundation promotes democracy and political education in the region. "This is clearly a very dark day for Jordan, which has long been celebrated as a model of peaceful coexistence," she said. "I am very worried we are seeing the end of an era here and more and more problems to come in the future."

In recent years, extremists have attacked other publications for publishing caricatures seen as insulting to Islam, including in Europe. In Jan 2015, jihadists killed 12 people, including eight staff, in an attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published drawings purporting to show Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2006. - Agencies