Nahed Hattar. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org — A well-known Jordanian Christian writer was murdered Sunday on the steps of Jordan’s Supreme Court after he was set to stand trial for sharing a cartoon online considered offensive to Islam, according to the government-run Petra News Agency.

Nahed Hattar, a 56-year-old anti-Islamist activist, was shot three times in the head by a Muslim preacher outside the Palace of Justice.

The gunman was arrested at the scene by security officers.

The Jordanian government condemned Hattar’s murder. “The law will be strictly enforced on the culprit who did this criminal act and will hit with an iron fist anyone who tries to harm the state of law,” said official spokesman Mohammad Momani.

In August, Hattar was criminally charged for sharing a cartoon on his Facebook page that depicted a bearded man smoking in bed surrounded by women and asking God to serve him wine.

The writer later removed the post and wrote that the cartoon “mocks terrorists and their concept of God and heaven. It does not infringe God’s divinity in any way.”