Jordan releases killer of 7 Israel schoolgirls after 20 years jail

The Jordanian soldier Ahmed Dakmase, who murdered seven Israeli schoolgirls from the Beit Shemesh religious school on March 13, 1997, was freed after midnight Saturday after serving 20 years in prison. His release was celebrated in his home town of Irbid. The class was on a trip in the Jordan valley, when the soldier, then 27, shot dead the 11- and 12-year old girls and injured six of their classmates. Later, Jordan’s King Hussein, father of the reigning King Abdullah II, personally visited the bereaved families in Beit Shemesh  and apologized for the crime.