Beirut, February 25, 2010

Press Release

Prosecutions of journalists and writers in Jordan increase in frequency:

Raids against offices, summonses, arrests and trials....all in one day

Amman – SKeyes Special Report

Yesterday, Tuesday February 23, 2010, a number of Jordanian journalists

and webmasters accused the government of waging a campaign of
harassment against them, beginning with raids against the offices of
newspapers, websites and the home of a journalist, in addition to the
detention of another and summonses against other journalists to present
themselves to the General Prosecution.
According to the journalist Jamal al-Muhtaseb, police forces raided on
Tuesday noon the offices of the electronic newspaper Jrassa News, and the
weekly newspaper Al-Miraat [The Mirror], and it is yet unclear as to for
what reason. In a statement published on the Ammoun News website, he
indicated that the raid took place against the backdrop of their tackling of
sensitive topics, and described this as being irresponsible practices of a
security nature. He said: “the General Security violated the sanctity of the
offices of Jordanian media outlets without justification”, and pointed out that
“checking with the production department does not require more than a
phone call; we obey the law and this issue did not necessitate the use of
force or this humiliating and abusive manner that embarrassed the
newspaper‟s management and staff”. He then added: “the security measures
that were taken were exaggerated and I cannot find any justifications for
them, except that it is an attempt to intimidate people without due cause”.

Publisher arrested

In another incident, the Saraya News website mentioned that yesterday

(Tuesday), a unit from the Judicial Enforcement Department arrested the
publisher of the Al-Bilad weekly newspaper, Engineer Taj al-Din al-Huroub,
after raiding his house, and took him to the Judicial Enforcement
Department.

Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63, Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel /Fax: 00961 1 397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address: info@skeyesmedia.org
Another unit was also sent to the house of the publisher of Ayla News and
the Baidaa weekly newspaper, the journalist Ahmad al-Tayyeb, in the city of
Madaba south of Amman, and clashed with his brothers after insisting on
searching the house in order to find and arrest him.
The Judicial Enforcement Department had contacted al-Tayyeb yesterday
morning to settle sentences against him. However, they did not accept to
give until this morning to do so. Al-Tayyeb said: “the Judicial Enforcement
has not opened these cases for years”, and told several websites that a
Chevrolet with security officers were looking for him and asking journalists
about his place of residence in order to arrest him.

Notices and trials

In the same context, the Saraya News website pointed out that the Editor of
al-Mihwar newspaper and the chairman of the freedoms committee at the
Jordanian Press Association, Hashem al-Khalidi, received a telephone call
from Amman‟s General Prosecutor, and was requested to appear before him
for questioning on Wednesday February 24. The General Prosecutor also
asked the editor of Sheihan newspaper, the journalist Jihad Abu Baidar, to
appear before him today also for questioning.
Moreover, the publisher of al-Khunduq website and the writer in Al-Rai
Khaled Mahaddin will appear today before the Amman Criminal Magistrate
Court, against the backdrop of the lawsuit filed against him by the chairman
of the board of the Jordanian television Saleh al-Qallab.
The webmaster of Ajbad, the writer Abdul Hadi Raji Majali, will also appear
before the capital‟s General Prosecutor against the backdrop of the case
brought against him by the Minister of Information and Communication
Nabil al-Sharif.
Because of these developments, the Saraya News website accused the
Jordanian government of „orchestrating a campaign of security harassments
against journalists by using Judicial Enforcement and reopening cases that
had been hitherto forgotten for years‟.
The site mentioned that “this campaign against webmasters and journalists is
coordinated between the Justice Minister Ayman Awdeh, under the
supervision of the Prime Minister, and the Director of the General Security
Major General Mazen al-Qadi in addition to the head of Judicial
Enforcement Colonel Walid Battah.”

Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63, Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel /Fax: 00961 1 397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address: info@skeyesmedia.org
The website also pointed out that “on February 22, instructions were given
to the Judicial Enforcement Department to reopen cases against journalists
and request them to pay outstanding fines within one day only or less,
although fines in these cases often amounted to thousands of Dinars”.
The website also said: “this campaign took place first of all because of the
government‟s annoyance with the sharp criticisms in reports published in the
websites of Jrassa, Saraya, al-Muharrir and Ayla News, regarding the
conflict of interests with Dubai Capital which was headed by the current
Prime Minister Samir Rifai prior to the formation of his cabinet. This
infuriated the Prime Minister and led to cancellation of advertisement
contracts by Dubai Capital with the websites that criticized the government.
Second of all, this is also caused by the material published in Saraya,
Ammoun and Jrassa regarding the judges‟ demands of financial and
administrative autonomy from the Ministry of Justice. This was perceived as
siding with the judges on the part of the press, following the judicial
conference in the Dead Sea that took place under royal auspices, and the
clear attacks voiced during it against the Minister of Justice. This prompted
the latter to use all means including pressuring the Judicial Enforcement
Department to punish every website and journalist that sided with the judges
at the expense of the powers of the Ministry of Justice, which refused to give
up its control of the judiciary.
Thirdly, the harassments are an attempt to intimidate the journalists and
websites that criticized the government”.

The SKeyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedom expresses its concern
regarding the campaign of harassments, notices, and security and judicial
summonses against Jordanian journalists and writers, and deeply regrets
stooping down to this level of dealing with the freedom of opinion and
expression in the Kingdom. SKeyes also calls on the Jordanian government
to clarify the circumstances to the local and international publics, and to
immediately stop prosecuting and trying writers and journalists, and also to
close down the cases against them and not reopen similar cases in the future.
SKeyes also demands that the government instructs the relevant agencies
and departments to reconsider the laws in force, both old and recent ones,
which impose restrictions on journalism and culture, with a view to
completely abolish them.

Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63, Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel /Fax: 00961 1 397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address: info@skeyesmedia.org