Amnesty International Report 1999 - Jordan

:JORDAN

At least 12 prisoners of conscience or possible prisoners of conscience remained in prison at the end of the year. At least 400 people, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested for political reasons. More than 60 people, including prisoners of conscience, were convicted after trials before State Security Court which often fell short of international fair trial standards. There were some reports of torture or ill-treatment. At least nine people were executed and 14 were sentenced to death. There were reports that asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to countries where they were at risk of human rights violations.

In July King Hussein bin Talal delegated Crown Prince Hassan as regent during his absence for cancer treatment. Crown Prince Hassan had a wide range of powers, including from August the power to dismiss and appoint governments. A new government headed by Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh was formed in August after the resignation of Prime Minister ‘Abd al-Salam Majali, partly triggered by a water crisis in the capital Amman.

The High Court of Justice declared the 1997 Press and Publications Law unconstitutional in January. A new Press and Publications Law, which includes many restrictions on freedom of expression, was promulgated in September. However, in October the government stated that it would not enforce punitive articles of the law.

Prisoners of conscience held at the end of 1997 were released during the year on expiry of their sentences (see previous Amnesty International Reports). However, one of them, ‘Ata' Abu'l-Rushta (see Amnesty International Report 1998), spokesperson for the Hizb al-Tahrir fi'l-'Urdun, Liberation Party in Jordan (LPJ) – a party seeking to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate – was detained again and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on charges of membership of an illegal party. Leith Shubeilat, a leading Islamist opponent of the government (see previous Amnesty International Reports), was arrested in February after addressing a meeting in Ma‘an calling on people to defy an official ban on meetings and demonstrate their support for Iraq. He was charged with inciting an illegal gathering and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment by the State Security Court in May. King Hussein granted him an amnesty; however, he refused to leave prison saying that he would wait for the court to declare his innocence. In July the Court of Cassation confirmed the sentence. Leith Shubeilat was released on expiry of his sentence in October.

Other prisoners of conscience detained during the year included journalists arrested under the 1993 Press and Publications Law after the 1997 Press Law was declared unconstitutional. The chief editor and the managing editor of Sawt al-Mar'a (Woman's Voice) were detained for six days in March after they published an interview with a member of parliament critical of the Director of Intelligence. They were released without charge.

At least 400 people, including possible prisoners of conscience, were detained for political reasons. They included 250 people reportedly arrested during and after demonstrations in support of Iraq which took place in Ma‘an after Leith Shubeilat's arrest in February. Demonstrations reportedly started peacefully, but turned into violent confrontations with the police that continued after a bystander, Muhammad ‘Abdallah al-Kateb, was killed. Police arrested and charged Muhammad Salem ‘Awad with manslaughter and inciting riots; he was acquitted by Amman Criminal Court, which concluded that confessions he made were extracted under "mental duress". All those arrested were pardoned by King Hussein in May.

More than 60 people, including prisoners of conscience, were convicted of political offences by the State Security Court after trials which often failed to meet international fair trial standards. More than 30 members of the LPJ, including ‘Ata' Abu'l-Rushta, were arrested in July and August; some were released after a few days, but many were held incommunicado in the General Intelligence Department (GID) for up to three weeks. At least 25 were tried in September and October and 13 were sentenced to up to 18 months' imprisonment on charges of membership of an illegal association and distribution of leaflets. One such leaflet was said to have strongly criticized officials for negligence over the water crisis.

Scores of people were arrested in May and 10 were subsequently brought to trial before the State Security Court in September on charges of preparing bomb explosions in Amman. They had been held incommunicado in the GID for at least two months, where, they said, confessions were extracted from them under torture (see below). In October, after pressure from defence lawyers, medical examinations were ordered, which appeared to support their allegations. The trial was continuing at the end of the year.

The Court of Cassation in April overturned, because of "improper methods of investigation", the sentences of 15 years' imprisonment imposed by the State Security Court in 1997 on four alleged supporters of Islamist political groups. The four men had been charged with possessing explosives for illegal purposes. In September ‘Isa Talaq al-Khalayeleh and Sa‘ud al-Khalayeleh were sentenced by the State Security Court to 10 years' imprisonment; the two others were acquitted.

Some cases of torture or ill-treatment were reported. The 10 people detained in the Amman bombings case were allegedly subjected to beatings, shabeh (prolonged sleep-deprivation in painful positions), falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), and prolonged suspension in contorted positions with nylon ropes. Relatives and lawyers who visited some of the detainees stated that during their visits marks of torture were visible, especially beatings on the feet. One detainee, ‘Abd al-Nasser Shehadeh Salim, reportedly lost four toenails as a result of torture; another, ‘Abd al-Nasser Sayyed Hassanayn, had one leg reportedly broken as a result of beatings.

Isma‘il Suleiman al-Hamdan al-‘Ajarmeh died in the GID in February. He had been arrested in September 1997, apparently in connection with an attack on employees of the Israeli embassy, and had no access to a lawyer during his detention. According to the authorities, Isma'il al-‘Ajarmeh committed suicide by throwing himself down a stairwell and died instantly. The Interior Minister stated that the prisoner's death "happened shortly after an interrogation session and that the autopsy confirmed the cause of death". Amnesty International requested a copy of the autopsy report, but none was made available.

At least nine people were executed. They included Mustafa ‘Abd al-Mustafa who was executed in October for murder. He had initially been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997. However, the Court of Cassation reviewed the case and returned it to the Criminal Court, ordering a harsher penalty to be imposed; in March the Criminal Court sentenced him to death. In March the Court of Cassation returned to the Amman Criminal Court the case of eight members of a single family condemned to death in 1997 for killing two people in a quarrel (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The Criminal Court resentenced them to death in April, but in July the conviction was again overturned by the Court of Cassation, which decided that the case should be considered one of manslaughter and that not all eight could have caused the death. In September the Criminal Court sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Fourteen people were sentenced to death. They included Muhammad Mansur, sentenced in October by the Criminal Court for raping his 12-year-old niece. He had been acquitted by the Criminal Court in March, but the Court of Cassation sent the case back after genetic tests. His niece was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for the manslaughter of her new-born baby.

There were reports that asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to countries where they were at risk of human rights violations. They included an Iraqi army deserter who was reportedly returned to Iraq in August.

The government responded with detailed comments to reports issued by Amnesty International on the Middle East in 1997 on refugees and in 1998 on unfair trials. In June Amnesty International sent a memorandum to the government detailing the organization's concerns about the use of incommunicado detention, laws used to sentence prisoners of conscience, and reports of torture. No reply was received. In November Amnesty International issued Jordan: An absence of safeguards, which raised the same concerns.