Jordan has yet to come to an agreement on Germany’s request to grant “full immunity” for German troops, planned to be stationed in the Kingdom, according to international diplomatic conventions, an official source said Saturday.

About 250 German soldiers will be relocating from Turkey’s Incirlik base to Jordan.

The German government is seeking protection against criminal prosecution for the soldiers, a report by Deutsche Welle (DW) quoted a report published Saturday in the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel.

A senior government source in the Jordanian government said that “immunities are granted according to international conventions and the principle of reciprocal treatment.”
The same source added that relevant diplomatic protocols will be applied to Germany’s request.

Ma’moun Al Khasawneh, former head of the Military Court and current head of the National Commission for Humanitarian law, said that Jordan refuses to provide full immunity to foreign militaries in order to protect Jordanians from possible transgressions by foreign soldiers, and to guarantee the rights of Jordanians should such violations occur.

“Foreign soldiers are tried in Military Courts regardless of the nature of their crimes, unless an agreement between Jordan and the country they belong to states otherwise,” he says.

Al Khasawneh said military agreements regarding providing immunity to foreign soldiers stationed in Jordan do not undermine Jordan’s sovereignty, and that such agreements have to be approved by the Cabinet or the Parliament.

Following a renewed spat with Ankara, the German government decided to withdraw its troops from southeastern Turkey and redeploy them to Jordan’s Al Azraq base, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has said previously.

The German-Turkish conflict was over Ankara’s refusal to allow German lawmakers access to the soldiers at the Incirlik base.