Japanese Photographer to Get 'Fair Trial': Jordanian Information Minister Top Stories
May 05 11:00:00 AM

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AMMAN, May 5 (AFP) - Jordan's information minister Mohamad Adwan pledged Monday a "fair trial" for the Japanese photographer blamed for the explosion of an Iraq war souvenir that killed an airport employee.

Hiroki Gomi, 36, "is being heard by the Jordanian judicial authorities, who will issue their verdict, and he will get a fair trial," Petra news agency quoted Mohamad Adwan as telling a senior editor from Gomi's employer, Mainichi Shimbun.

Adwan also told Ito Yoshiaki that Thursday's deadly explosion at Queen Alia International Airport was an "individual act that will not affect the distinguished relations between Jordan and Japan".

Gomi "did not have any intention to harm anyone", Adwan added during the 30-minute meeting with the Mainichi Shimbun delegation.

Yoshiaki also handed Adwan a message of condolences from the president of Mainichi newspapers company, Akira Saito, in which he expressed "the deepest sadness and sincerest apologies" over the deadly explosion.

"We are keenly aware that investigations into this unfortunate incident are left entirely to the discretion of the Jordanian authorities, although it has already emerged that the careless actions of ... Gomi resulted in this grave outcome," said the message, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Yoshiaki also held a news conference during which he said he had contacted Jordan's state security prosecutor, Mohannad Hijazi, who told him that the investigation with Gomi would start late Monday afternoon.

"The state prosecutor has not decided what suitable charges to issue ... but Mainichi newspaper deeply respects the Jordanian law and we will respect any decision that will be taken by the Jordanian courts," Yoshiaki said.

The newspaper, he said, appointed a lawyer to defend Gomi who was arrested Thursday when an unidentified device he was carrying in his luggage exploded at the airport, killing a security guard and wounding three others.

He appeared Saturday before the state's military tribunal, which will decide his fate. If found guilty of second degree murder, Gomi faces 15 years to life in prison.

The airport security guard had noticed a metal object in Gomi's luggage as he checked in for an evening flight to Cairo. It exploded in the guard's hands as he tried to examine it.

Gomi told police he had brought the explosive device and several artefacts from Baghdad as war souvenirs.

The daily Al-Arab Al-Youm reported Sunday that Jordan's security services raided the home of Gomi's Jordanian translator where they found a similar device and blew it up in a controlled explosion.

It quoted journalists returning from Iraq as saying the objects were pyramid shaped, with each side about three centimetres (just over an inch) long.

Yoshiaki arrived Saturday in Jordan and said he planned to stay on until Gomi's trial is over .

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Apparently he kept a unexploded bomblet from a cluster bomb [whacko]

BTW His last name is Gomi, which means trash in Japanese

Can Gomi also mean DUMBASS in japanese.