Amnesty International Report 2000 - Jordan

Head of state: 'Abdallah bin Hussein (replaced King Hussein bin Talal in February)
Head of government: 'Abd al-Ra'uf Rawabdeh (replaced Fayez Tarawneh in March)
Capital: Amman
Population: 4.5 million
Official language: Arabic
Death penalty: retentionist

Scores of people were arrested for political reasons during the year. Most of those arrested, apparently for opposition to the government or to the peace process, were held for up to two months and then released. Arrested prisoners of conscience included journalists and members of Islamist parties. At least 70 people were arrested and charged with offences involving political violence. Trials of most of those charged with political offences continued to be heard before a State Security Court where procedures did not meet international fair trial standards. Some reports of torture or ill-treatment of detainees by members of the security services were received. More than 20 people were sentenced to death and 12 were executed. Four members of Hamas, an Islamist group opposed to the peace process with Israel, were forcibly exiled from Jordan. There were reports of the refoulement (forcible return) of Iraqi asylum-seekers.

Background

In January King Hussein bin Talal discharged his brother Hassan from the post of Crown Prince, naming his eldest son, 'Abdallah, as Regent. In February King Hussein died of cancer and was succeeded by his son as King 'Abdallah II. In March 'Abd al-Ra'uf Rawabdeh was named as Prime Minister, succeeding Fayez Tarawneh. Municipal elections, held in July, were dominated by tribal and independent candidates; however, the Islamic Action Front was returned in three towns. A committee, set up in the Press and Publications Department in the Ministry of Information following an appeal by King 'Abdallah for greater openness, removed hundreds of books from censorship. A new Press and Publications Law was passed by parliament in September, abolishing Article 37 of the 1998 Press Law which listed a range of 14 prohibited topics such as news harming national unity or disclosing information on the armed forces. An amendment to repeal Article 340 of the Penal Code, one of whose clauses allows an exemption from penalty for men who kill female relatives discovered in the act of adultery, was rejected by the lower house of parliament but passed by the Senate in December.

Amnesty

At least 25 political prisoners were released in an amnesty of 500 prisoners in March on the occasion of 'Id al-Adha. They included Ata' Abu'l-Rushta and members of the banned Islamist party Hizb al-Tahrir fi'l-'Urdun, Liberation Party in Jordan, which seeks to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate, sentenced to one year's imprisonment in 1998 after distributing leaflets and considered probable prisoners of conscience.

Arrests

Scores of people were arrested during the year for political reasons. Most political detainees were arrested and held by the General Intelligence Department (GID) and released after days or weeks in detention, often without charge. At least 70 people were arrested during the year on charges involving violence, such as plotting "terrorist" attacks. Prisoners of conscience included members of the Muslim Brotherhood and journalists arrested after writing critical articles.

• Sinan Shaqdih, the head of the Correspondents' Department of the daily newspaper Al-Masa'iyeh, was arrested by the GID in July. He was detained for more than two weeks and charged with harming relations with Syria through articles he had written. He was released, apparently after the intervention of King 'Abdallah, and charges against him were dropped.
• 'Abd al-Karim Barghouthi, the editor-in-chief of al-Bilad, a weekly newspaper, was arrested in August and detained for five days after 'Isam al-Rawabdeh, the son of the Prime Minister, lodged a complaint of libel. In November he was rearrested and detained once more for two days.

Torture and ill-treatment

Reports of torture or ill-treatment at the hands of the security or prison services continued to be received.

• Salim Ibrahim Marji, aged 73, serving a life sentence at Swaqa Prison, was allegedly abused and beaten while tied by prison guards. Following the beating, Salim Marji suffered a heart attack and was taken to al-Ashraf hospital where he was found to have suffered two fractured tibiae and three fractured fingers. He reportedly showed visible bruising and marks of falaqa (beatings on the soles of the feet). He died after a further heart attack in December. A police inquiry was set up into the beating but had not made any report public by the end of the year.

Unfair trials

Trials of political detainees before the State Security Court, a court which almost invariably used panels of military judges, failed to provide adequate safeguards for fair trial.

• In April the State Security Court sentenced nine alleged members of the Reform and Challenge Movement, including three tried in absentia, to up to life imprisonment for carrying out "terrorist" acts, including placing bombs in Amman in 1998. They included 'Abd al-Nasser Shehadeh Salim and Samer Muhammad Isma'il 'Amer. Four, including 'Abd al-Nasser Sayyed Hassanayn, were acquitted. Defendants said they were tortured to extract confessions but the judge rejected lawyers' requests for confessions not to be accepted as evidence. He also excluded a confession from another detainee that he, and not the accused, had carried out the explosions.

Death penalty

More than 20 death sentences were imposed and 12 executions were carried out during 1999. Four executions took place during one week in June, immediately after the end of the period of mourning for King Hussein.

• Muhammad 'Abed Hussein was hanged at Swaqa Prison in October. He had been sentenced to death in 1998 after the criminal court found him guilty of murdering his wife. His death sentence had been upheld by the Court of Cassation in June 1999.

Forcible exile

Four leaders of Hamas, including Ibrahim Ghosheh and Khaled Mesh'al, who had returned to Jordan in September after arrest warrants had been issued against them, were forcibly exiled by Jordan to Qatar after two months' detention in Jweideh Prison. They had been charged with belonging to an illegal organization and possessing arms. The government denied forcibly exiling them and said they had left of their own accord.

Refugees

There were reports of asylum-seekers being forcibly returned to countries where they were at risk of human rights violations.

• Robar Yahya Latif al-Salihi was arrested in August by Jordanian intelligence after he wrote an article about the kidnapping of his brother. His mother Gulbahar, his brother 'Uma'ed and his sister Joanne were also arrested. They were apparently only saved from forcible return to Iraq by wide media coverage, including public appeals by AI. They were reportedly granted safe passage to Syria. However, other Iraqi asylum-seekers were reportedly forcibly returned at the same time.