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JERUSALEM – A well-known Jordanian writer and political activist was fatally shot Sunday morning as he headed into a courtroom in Amman to face charges over a cartoon he posted on his Facebook page that some deemed offensive to Islam.

The writer, 56-year-old Nahed Hattar, was hit by three bullets on the steps of the courthouse in a prominent business and residential district in the Jordanian capital, according to Petra, the state-run news agency.

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A witness told the Associated Press that the shooter was “wearing a long gray robe and long beard characteristic of conservative Muslims.” The assailant was caught by Hattar’s family and turned over to police, who have not released the shooter’s identity.

Hattar, a secular Christian, was arrested in August for posting a cartoon on his Facebook page titled “the God of Daesh,” an alternative name for the Islamic State militant group.

The drawing showed a bearded man, lying in bed under the sheets, smoking contentedly beside two women in paradise and jabbing his finger toward God, who asks, “Do you need anything?” The man replies, “Yes, Lord, bring me wine, cashews and an immortal servant to come clean the floor.”