AMMAN: The assailant of Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar is facing execution after confessing to shooting the victim, Alarabiya.net reported.

49-year-old Riyad Abdullah gave himself up to police after he killed Hatter, who was facing prosecution for offensive cartoons.

Abdullah was remanded for 15 days and charged with premeditated murder, a crime that is punishable by death in Jordan.

After Hattar's killing, Jordanian authorities have vowed to crack down on incitement to violence on social media, AFP adds.

Jordan's Justice Minister Bassam Talhuni, quoted by official news agency Petra, said that “anyone who uses social media to spread hate speech” would face charges.

“Certain acts of incitement to hatred could be defined as terrorist crimes... and we will deal with them in accordance with anti-terrorist laws,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets calling on the government to resign over its failure to prevent Hattar's murder.

His family says the authorities were warned of threats to Hattar's life, including from his assailant, and of personal attacks on social media but had failed to take action.

The interior ministry said Tuesday an unspecified number of arrests had been made in connection with incitement to “hatred and confessional discord” on social networking sites.

They included a social media user who set up a Facebook page campaigning for the release of Hattar's killer, who gave himself up to police at the scene and faces a charge of premeditated murder.