HRW Report: The Ultimate Test for Democracy in Jordan

Today the Human Right Watch (HRW) have issued the strongest yet report on political human rights abuses in Jordan. The report entitled "Suspicious Sweeps: The General Intelligence Department and Jordan’s Rule of Law Problem" is a direct hit at methodologies and measures used by the General Intelligence Departments (GID) in interrogating suspects of "political activism related to Islamic extremism".

I am postinga bout this report to enlighten my fellow Jordanians to its content as a practice of the "right to information" act, and to present my own point of view.

The report is highly critical, and is based on many documentations. For many people in Jordan and outside this will be a brilliant tool to use in the continuous campaign against Jordan's credibility.

For me, as a Jordanian citizens who loves his country I feel very angry due to the continuity of such measures that reflect badly on the image of the country and violate the basic human rights of our fellow citizens.

Jordan is not a true dictatorship like some other Arab regimes where arrested citizens do not even re-appear to talk to HRW, but the securiy approach taken in the last few years has been exaggerated.

The claim that Jordan is "targeted" by terrorism and extremism might be true. At the end of the day we do not want another crime like the bombing of the three hotels, and if there are people out there who are planning for such attrocities they should be in jail and not in the community, but still this trend towards security should not be at the expense of basic human rights.

If arrests, interrogations and trials are to be executed against "potential suspects" this has to be done within a framework of respecting national and global human rights principles.

For example let us talk about one of the main stars of this report, Isam Barqawi (nicknamed Abu Mohammad Al Maqdesi). I am not fond of this guy, since he has promoted Takfiri principles and called for hatred and terrorism and was the main teacher of Abu Musab Zarqawi. Al-Magdisi was found not guilty in 2005 and was released only for two days when an interview he made with Al Jazeerah Channel (what else!) provoked the security forces to arrest him again with no charges. He is still arrested until now.

This is a man whose words have indirectly caused the death of many people but he, himself has not been found guilty on any charge under the Jordanian law. The simple fact is that he sould be released now.

This is the biggest test for democracy and human rights in Jordan: should "dangerous" people be treated with the dignity and principles of human rights that they deny to others?

The answer is yes, provided that:

1- Those dangerous suspects are really dangerous and not just a group of political activists who have not caused physical harm to anyone.

2- The interrogation should be based on the rights of citizens stipulated in the constitution, laws, and global human rights principles.

3- If they are not guilty should be released back to the community.

The report provides many recommendations. It calls the government to investigate the GID’s arrest and detention practices, including allegations of torture, and prosecute any official suspected of wrongdoing. Moreover, HRW requests the government to restrict the GID’s ability to carry out arrests or to determine whether a person must remain in detention except where regulated by strict independent judicial oversight and a clear basis in law. All detainees should have prompt access to legal counsel and be able to challenge their detention in an independent court.

As I mentioned before, this is the ultimate test in Jordanian democracy and I think the country should be able to pass it. It is our collective interest as patriot Jordanians advocating for democracy and human rights to re-inforce the recomendations of the report to enhance the democratic framework in the country and the rights of the citizens. A strong, united, self-confident and visionary country should be able to implement the reccomendations of this report, and so Jordan must do.

The summary of the report is found here

The Full report in PDF can be downloaded from here