The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
Sunday, 17 Dec 2000

Jordanian Regime Oppression Reveals its Ugly Face Again, a report by Dr.
Hisham Bustani.

Amman, Jordan
December 17, 2000

Today, Sunday, December 17, 2000, a delegation that includes members of the
Liberties Committee of the Union of Professional Associations, the Arab
Organization for Human Rights, and grass-root human rights activists was
intending to go to the southern Jordanian City of Ma'an, (about 200 km south
of Amman), where a sit-in to demand the release of local activists arrested
in pro-Intifada rallies has been ongoing for about one week.

The delegation was made up of six members: Attorney Na'eem Al-Madai, Head of
the Liberties Committee in the Union of Professional Associations, Akram
Krieshan, Vice-President of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Dr.
Hisham Bustani, Head of the Liberties Committee in the Jordan Dental
Association, Dr. Ibrahim Alloush, Media Coordinator in the Association
Against Zionism and Racism and editor of the Free Arab Voice, Mowafak
Mahadin, from the Jordanian Writers Guild, and Sameer Abu-Hilala, a
Journalist in Al-Arab Al-Yawm daily newspaper. The six had assembled at
around 2 pm in the Complex of the Union of Professional Associations'
building in Amman, and headed for two personal cars outside the building.
There, a Major in the police approached Mr. Madani demanding him to go to
the Governer's office. Mr.Madani, as a well-known attorny, explained to the
officer that this procedure is illegal since there was no arrest warrant of
any kind. After a give-n-take, Mr. Madani refused to go and both cars left
heading to Ma'an.

Earlier, inside the Associations' building, many police agents were roaming
around asking about this visit. Given this situation, and due to the fact
that the cars (that were known to the police by now) might be easily
recognized and intercepted on the way, the delegation decided to park in an
area close to where public transport is available to Ma'an, got into two
taxis, and headed to the bus stops.

Not more than three minutes later, two police cars intercepted the two taxis
by squeezing them to the sidewalk, parking in front of and behind them. Four
policemen quickly jumped out of the police cars with guns pointed at the
taxis, opened the doors, and ordered everyone out. They showed no arrest
warrants at all; they even had no idea what the charges were. Three of the
members of the delegation, namely, Mr. Madani, Mr. Kreishan and Mr.
Abu-Hilala, were handcuffed at gunpoint. The others were not handcuffed
simply because the policemen ran out of handcuffs! (which goes to show that
being oppressed in the Third World can have its advantages – Ibrahim A.) The
members of the delegation were thrown in police cars and transported to the
Governer's office to the sound of sirens. To a plain viewer, the scene
seemed like a short clip from a Mafia-related arrest operation, especially
that two of the arrested were men in their fifties wearing suits and ties.

In the Governate, members of the delegation were seated in the Assistant
Governer's office (who had no idea what was going on and was virtually
dragged out of his afternoon nap to come to his office).  The six members of
the delegation were then individually taken for a ‘chit-chat’ with the
Governer.

The Governer, Tal'at Nawayseh, apologized “for having to do this procedure
to stop the delegation from going to Ma'an". He pointed out that it was
completely out of the question for the delegation to reach Ma'an", and that
there were "four police check-points on the road south ready for
interception in a much more forceful manner", and that he is to be "thanked
for saving the delegation from these check points"!!!!

The six members were then released, no charges forwarded, no arrest warrants
shown, nothing. Just plain violations of basic human rights in its most
terrible form.

The Ma'an Scene
---------------

In Ma'an, the 24 hrs/day-7 days/week sit-in, taking place in a tent in front
of the Court’s Complex there, continues for the second week  running
demanding the following:

1. The retrial of Kamal Abu-Hilala who was sentenced 1 year in prison in the
background of pro-Intifada activities.

2. The return of the following to their jobs: Majdi Krieshan, Abdul-Fattah
Krieshan, Mohammad Shalabi and Akram Krieshan. Those were sacked due to
their active participation in pro-Intifada events.

3. The relase of all detainees who were arrested for participating in
pro-Intifada activities. The names and numbers are not yet known, and will
be published as soon as we have them.

Regards,

Hisham Bustani

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