HELP! Arrests in Jordan

Amman, March 9, 2002

Dear Friends,

Following a peaceful pro-Intifada protest in Amman at noon today (see report below),
three activists have been called in to the headquarters of Preventive Security 
in downtown Amman this afternoon where they have been detained pending their
trial in a State Security Court.  These are: Dr. Aida Dabbas, Engineer
Khaled Ramadan, and writer Mouwaffaq Mahadeen.  WE NEED YOUR HELP.  Please
use the addresses below to email, write, and fax Jordanian officials
worldwide to ask them to release the three activists as they have not
engaged in any illegal activity and didn't
cause public disorder in any shape or form.  They are only being accused of
participating in a pro-Intifada demonstration.  Mind you arrests may
continue and state security court doesn't follow civilian law.

Write to the Jordanian embassy in the country of your residence and to
the Jordanian government directly.

To find the address of the Jordanian embassy in your country, check
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/jordan.htm

Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Washington, D.C.
3504 International Drive, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Tel: (202) 966 2664
Fax: (202) 966 3110

Email: HKJEmbassyDC@aol.com
Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
London, United Kingdom
6 Upper Phillimore Gardens,
London, W8 7HB
Tel: 0207 937 3685
Fax: 0207 937 8795
Email: jib@jordan-information-bureau.org.uk

Jordan Representative to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 552
New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel: (212) 752-0135, 0136
Fax: (212) 826-0830
Email: jordan@un.int

Jordanian General Intelligence Department
P.O.Box (1980) - Amman
Tel. 5865131
Email: gid@amra.nic.gov.jo
Web: http://www.gid.gov.jo/


Please send copies of your correspondence to alloush@freearabvoice.org

Later
Ibrahim Alloush

                                                                                
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Jordanian Regime Suppresses a Pro-Intifada Protest: A Field Report
==================================================================

Amman, Jordan
March 9, ‏2002

At noon sharp on Saturday 9, 2002, a human chain suddenly formed on the
sidewalk between the First and Second Circle in Amman, Jordan.  Every few
yards a sign was raised: “Support the Intifada, No to Defeatist
Initiatives”; “Lift the Official Arab Siege on Iraq”; “Palestine is ARAB”;
“Sharon and Bush are Partners in Crime”; “NO to the Aggression on Iraq and
the Palestinian People”; etc..  Each sign was repeated dozens of times in
one sequence as if to make the point clear to whomever it may concern, and
to passers-by who started gathering around like the clouds before the rain.
A line of dedicated activists and citizens stood SILENTLY steadfast beneath
those signs to underscore the point: WE CANT WATCH WHAT’S GOING ON IN
PALESTINE AND IRAQ IN SILENCE ANYMORE!

In fact, the previously unannounced human chain was a peaceful protest
against the massacres perpetrated by Zionists against the Palestinian
people, against the looming threat of aggression on Iraq, and against the
incompetence of Arab regimes, if not outright facilitation, of the
aggression on Iraq and Palestine.

Minutes before the protest began, a few satellite TV stations and news
agencies had been told of the protest.  A leaflet explaining the objectives
of the protest was handed out to passers-by.  It was a day not to fear the
oppression of Arab regimes.

But exactly seventeen minutes into the peaceful protest, around thirty
anti-riot vehicles accompanied by several police cars rushed to the scene.
Public security officers tore down the signs violently from the raised hands
of the peaceful protestors.  The entrance to the First Circle was blocked by
the Police at the Second Circle.  Anti—riot vehicles then lined up in one
long row to separate the protestors from the people and the cars in the
street, even though the protest remained totally on the sidewalk and didn’t
obstruct traffic or pedestrians in any shape or form.  Subsequently, the
protestors were ordered to disband under the threat of force.

HAVING MADE THEIR POINT, the protestors began to disband, but it seems that
wasn’t fast enough for civilian and police officers.  Some of the protestors
were pushed around.  Others had their identity cards confiscated, but there
were no reports of the usual arrests or beatings.

As a throng of protestors was headed away, a few of the women trying to
speak about the protest to some TV crews in the area were prevented by
force.  Then Security personnel confiscated the tapes in all the TV cameras
around.  Chants erupted as a platoon of anti-riot troops closed in on the
group.  A security force intercepted the LEAVING protestors at the other
end, and forced them to disband individually, and in different directions.
In each case there were arguments and pushing, these were initiated by
Security.  In each case, it was very clear that the regime was most
interested in clearing the Pro-Intifada protest as quickly as possible. Thus
even if excessive force was not used as usual (because the protestors tried
very hard not to give Security the excuse), the protest was suppressed
nevertheless.

This comes as part of a pattern actually since pro-Intifada protests
erupting in Al Baqaa and Al Wihdat Camps yesterday, Friday, March 8, 2002,
were also contained by the iron hand of the security apparatus.  At night,
tear gas was used against pro-Intifada demonstrators, but there has been no
reports of arrests so far.

The confiscation of the tapes of TV crews comes only a few days after the
attorney general halted the distribution of two Arab Nationalist weeklies,
Al Majd and Al Wihdah, after they published articles pertaining to financial
corruption connected to high-ranking elements in the security apparatus.

In short then, there is no question that the Jordanian regime, just like
other Arab regimes, has been falling short on both support for the Intifada
and democracy.  Given what’s going on in Palestine, an Arab regime has to
BEYOND irrational to stifle expressions of Arab grass-roots support for the
Intifada.  Hence, there is no question that THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE ARAB
PEOPLE TO MOVE *NOW* in spite of the Arab regimes in support of the
Intifada.  The Arab regimes have proven to be hopeless basket cases.  If we
don’t act immediately, no body else will.  For this is the time to stop
watching sad TV reports on Palestine and to go down to the street, COME WHAT
MAY, to pressure Arab regimes to stop selling themselves wholesale to Bush
and Sharon.  The Palestinian people need us to act NOW.  They don’t need the
defeatist initiatives of those who try to pass off their vehement defense of
their status and privileges at the expense of principle as ‘political
realism’.

LET’S ACT NOW.  PALESTINE NEEDS US MORE THAN EVER.

Later
Ibrahim Alloush

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