Mjalli was made Chairman of the Jordanian Bar Association in 1970 and remained in office until 1975. He was President of the Arab Lawyers Bar from 1974 until 1984. He also served as lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the
University of Jordan. Mjalli was involved in the legal defence of
Saddam Hussein in 2004. He had been appointed to a 20-member team by Hussein's wife
Sajida Talfah. They argued that "given the invasion of Iraq [had] no legal basis, US-led occupation forces [had] no right to change or cancel the Iraqi constitution". Mjalli added that "Iraq, [the] Iraqi people, Iraqi law, and the Iraqi president were hijacked", concluding that "the occupation of Iraq was illegal so ipso facto everything that follows is illegal." Mjalli considered Saddam Hussein to still be the legitimate President of Iraq. Although the group had power of attorney they claimed they were prevented from seeing Hussein by the United States. In February 2011, Mjalli joined the government of
Marouf al-Bakhit as Justice Minister. The cabinet had been appointed in response to the
Jordanian protests. Mjalli was a member of the
Ba'ath Party, an opposition party in Jordan, and seen as somewhat to the political left. One week after being appointed, Mjalli was embroiled in controversy when protesters assembled outside his office. The protesters demanded the early release of Ahmed Daqamseh, the perpetrator of the
Island of Peace massacre. Mjalli joined the protesters, declaring he was participating in his capacity as Daqamseh's defence lawyer, which he had earlier been at the trial. He also declared Daqamseh a hero. The incident caused a disturbance in the relations between Israel and Jordan. Jordan's government dismissed Mjalli's comments as being his personal comments which did not represent the government's stance. Mjalli died of a heart attack on 12 October 2014, aged 77, and was buried in his hometown of Kitta in
Jerash Governorate. ==References==