Jordanian Regime to Clamp Down Further on Democratic 

Liberties:

October 10, 2001
Amman, Jordan

A report appearing in the most recent issue of the Jordanian weekly, Al
Majjd, indicated that the Jordanian government is pondering a full-scale
attack on [whatever is left of] democratic liberties in the country very
soon.

According to Al Majjd of October 8, 2001, the cabinet has adopted a series
of punitive measures and legal amendments that are meant to lower the level
of political and civil rights available to Jordanian citizens.

[Mind you, the parliament has been dissolved, and the cabinet has
implemented recently such a legal ?amendment? which effectively bans marches
and demonstrations.  Dozens of demonstrators from Al Baqaa Camp remain in
jail since September 28, the first anniversary of the Intifada, under that
amendment].

The new amendments, however, focus on the written and spoken word.  Al Majjd
says that speakers and lecturers, as well as "writers, editors, and those
corresponding via the internet" will be sent to the state security court
[this is a court-martial, not a civilian court] if they:

1)	are SUSPECTED of offending the Royal Family
2)	Badmouth it through email messages
3)      offend the government or badmouth its "accomplishments"
4)	undermine the prestige of the state, the status of its institutions, or
        the "activities" of any of its branches.

Al Majjd weekly added that these measures have already been adopted in a
formal session of the Jordanian Cabinet on Wednesday, October 3rd, but that
the government will be waiting for an "appropriate time" to announce them to
the public.

On the political level, these measures seem to come in a gradual return to
martial law, formally rescinded more than a decade ago.  Several laws
affecting public gatherings, the press, political parties, etc.. have either
been put into effect, or are in the process of, to make martial law part of
the legal system, not a suspension of the legal system.  This process has
accelerated since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada actually, especially in
preparation for the American aggression on Afghanistan.  In fact, the
Jordanian regime has formally declared its support for that aggression, in
spite of the fact that public opinion here is COMPLETELY behind Afghanistan
and Bin Laden [with the exception of a very marginal minority].

May the U.S. government take note that it can only launch its alleged
campaign for "freedom" and "human rights" in the world, with the help of
Third World allies that suppress the freedom and the human rights of their
people, for example, the recent shooting of three Palestinian demonstrators
by Arafat's authority in Gaza.

Such hypocrisy!!

Later
Ibrahim Alloush

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