By Xinhua
Amman : Jordanian authorities released Wednesday Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a mentor figure for the slain chief of Al Qaeda’s Iraqi networks, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, security sources said.
The sources were quoted by local media as saying that Maqdisi was released after almost three years of imprisonment since he was re-arrested in 2005.
However, the sources did not elaborate on the reason behind the release and other details of the case.
Before his re-arrest in 2005, Maqdisi had been jailed for four years between 1995 and 1999, during which he shared a cell with Zarqawi. But both of the two were freed in an amnesty.
Maqdisi is considered by the US intelligence as a major Jihadi mentor who has more influence over Islamist ideology than leading militants.