Karak Church Attack Trial Opens in Jordan as 3 Men Face Death-Penalty Terror Charges

Jordan’s State Security Court on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, opened the trial of the men accused in the Karak church attack, the Oct. 23 shooting at a funeral inside St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hmoud that killed nine people. Prosecutors filed seven categories of terrorism charges a day earlier, including nine counts of terrorist acts resulting in death.

The first session took place in a “calm and transparent atmosphere,” according to Roya News and Jordan News, which cited the state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka. The court heard the defendants’ responses to the charges and decided to appoint lawyers for them, as the law requires. Jordan’s state news agency Petra said further hearings are scheduled. Lawyer Amer Hussein Al-Halasa attended on behalf of the victims’ families.

What the Karak church attack defendants are charged with

State Security Court Prosecutor Brig. Gen. Ahmad Talat Shahaltough, a military judge, announced on Tuesday, Nov. 3, that his office had finished its investigation. He said it heard prosecution witnesses, collected evidence from the crime scene, documented the weapons and ammunition used, and questioned the suspects accused of carrying out or taking part in the attack, according to Petra.

The charges, all brought under Jordan’s Anti-Terrorism Law No. 55 of 2006 and the Penal Code, are:

• nine counts of jointly committing terrorist acts resulting in death;
• two counts of jointly committing terrorist acts using weapons and ammunition;
• possessing weapons and ammunition with intent to use them in terrorist acts;
• conspiracy to commit terrorist acts using weapons;
• promoting the ideology of a terrorist group; and
• committing acts likely to disrupt public order and endanger public safety.

Under Jordan’s anti-terrorism law, a conviction on the most serious charge, terrorist acts resulting in death, can carry the death penalty, AFP reported. Reports on the first hearing did not say how the defendants answered the charges, and they are presumed innocent unless convicted. The prosecutor’s statement did not name a specific group, and official statements have not named the suspects.

How the funeral shooting unfolded

Gunmen opened fire on Friday, Oct. 23, as mourners gathered for a funeral at the church in Karak governorate, south of Amman. The Boston Report covered the shooting that day in our report on deadly attacks in France, Jordan and the West Bank, when early casualty counts were still changing.

The final death toll settled at nine. All nine victims were men, several of them members of the prominent Halasah clan, according to The National. Reported injury figures differ: the BBC and The National put the number of wounded at 34, while AFP reported 25. The Boston Report has not been able to reconcile the two figures.

Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law before dawn on Monday, Oct. 26, finding them hiding in an abandoned house in Karak, the Public Security Directorate said, according to the BBC. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told state-affiliated television that the attackers were all Jordanian. Authorities have described the suspects as followers of a hard-line Islamist ideology, AFP reported.

The National called it the deadliest attack on Jordan’s Christian minority since the 1950s. Speaking to parliament, King Abdullah II said of those responsible: “These people are not [part] of us. They have left our great Jordanian family and betrayed it. They have no place among us, today or ever.”

Strikes in Syria and a border closure

The attack quickly spilled across Jordan’s northern border. On the evening of Oct. 26, Jordan’s air force struck what its military called “terrorist organisations” in southern Syria in retaliation for the church shooting. Jordan said the raids killed “more than 20 jihadists,” according to AFP. That figure is claimed by Jordan’s military and has not been independently verified. Syrian health officials told state media that five people, including women, children and an elderly man, were killed in a strike on a village in Daraa province, the BBC reported.

Jordan said it had coordinated with Damascus; Syria said it had not been notified. Syria then shut the Nassib crossing, the only passenger and commercial border crossing between the two countries, as we reported in our story on Syria closing the Nassib crossing after Jordan’s strikes. The episode added to the geopolitical tensions in a region already strained by the war with Iran.

U.S. reaction and the wider terrorism picture

Jordan is a close U.S. security partner. The U.S. Embassy in Amman lowered its flag to half-staff after the attack. In a statement on its social media accounts, the embassy offered condolences to the victims’ families and said the United States stands with King Abdullah II “against those who seek to sow division and target innocent people simply for practicing their faith,” according to Jordan News. German, Australian and Japanese diplomats in Amman also condemned the attack, Roya News reported.

The Karak case is one of several terrorism cases moving through courts and police investigations this month. Earlier this week, The Boston Report covered terror arrests in Moscow and South Korea that followed U.S. tip-offs.

Karak church attack by the numbers

The case moved from the attack to a courtroom in 12 days. TBR calculations from the dates reported by Petra, AFP and the BBC show the timeline:

Source: Petra, AFP, BBC; table: The Boston Report.

The count of nine death-related charges matches the nine people killed, one count per victim. Jordan has about 250,000 Christians in a population of about 11 million, according to The National, roughly 2.3% by TBR calculation; AFP put the Christian share at around 3%. By either measure, the victims came from a small minority community.

What comes next

The State Security Court, which handles terrorism cases in Jordan, has scheduled further hearings, according to Petra. No date for a verdict has been announced. The Boston Report will update this story as the trial proceeds.

Sources

• Petra (Jordan News Agency): Trial Begins for Defendants Charged in Karak Church Terror Attack
• Petra: State Security Court Prosecutor Files Terrorism Charges in Karak Church Attack
• Roya News: State Security Court holds first session in Hmoud church attack case
• Jordan News (via Al-Mamlaka): Trial Begins for Suspects in Karak Church Terror Attack
• Arab News / AFP: Jordan charges church attack suspects with terrorism
• The National: Jordan church attack suspects charged with terrorism
• BBC: Jordan carries out deadly strike in Syria in retaliation for church attack
• Jordan News: U.S. Embassy in Amman lowers flag to half-staff
• Roya News: Embassies and international missions condemn the Karak church attack