Dear Mr. Willems:

We have no objections to publishing your letter regarding the article in the form of an E-Mail from Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan. Furthermore, since the content of your correspondence conflicts with information we have received from the Royal Court and considering the highly sensitive nature of the religious issue that Queen Rania raised on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in Her Majesty's letter to Arab Times, we request that you inform us of the identity of the party that appointed you as their representative in this matter. Your correspondence nowhere clearly states that you are writing on behalf of the Queen. This leads us to question whether your office represents Queen Rania personally, Her Majesty's husband the King of Jordan, the Royal Hashemite Court, the Jordanian Embassy in Washington, or the Jordanian Intelligence Agency. 

Although Iam an American citizen, who holds a Jordanian Passport , Arab Times is an American publication that does not submit to Royal commands, ceremonies, or the other widespread Jordanian customs that result in the detention of writers and journalists as punishment for their writings As was mentioned by the State Department's Annual Report on Human Rights, international Human Rights organizations, and international organizations for the protection of journalists.

A caveat to keep in mind is that we received your letter after the receipt of a letter from Dr. Mohammad Al-Nezamy, an American citizen who also holds a Jordanian passport, who was detained and tortured in Jordanian prisons because of a joke he told in an internet chat room that concerned King Abdullah of Jordan. Before his release, Dr. Al-Nezamy was given a verbal message by the head of the Jordanian Intelligence Agency to me promising to kidnap and transport me from the United States to Jordan to punish me for what was published in the newspaper about the Royal Family. 

Please give my greetings to Her Majesty Queen Rania coupled with my hopes that we can reach an amicable solution that will protect Her Majesty's rights as well as those of the newspaper and its readers, according to the First Amendment rights granted and protected by the American, not Jordanian, Constitution.


Sincerely,

Osama Fawzi 
Arab Times