Your Voice in a World where Zionism, Steel, and Fire, have Turned Justice Mute

 

 

The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
From: AZAR Association
Escalation of Oppression against Anti-Normalization Activists in Jordan:
=======================================================================
On Monday, March19, 2001, the Attorney General of the State Security Court
slapped more charges to five members of the Anti-Normalization Committee of
the Union of Professional Associations. These had previously been arrested
and released on bail after publishing a list of normalizers with "Israel".
However, Anti-Normalization Committee president Ali Abu Sukkar, and
committee members Subhi Abu Zaghlan, Issam Abu Farha, Abdul Rahim Barakat,
and Ghassan Douaar are now facing as well the additional charges of
incitment to commit revenge and hurting the interests of Jordanian citizens.
But that is not all.  On the same day, Ali Hattar, another member of the
Anti-Normalization Committee was arrested upon his arrival to Amman Airport.
Read all about it in the report below..
Ibrahim Alloush
Jordanian Regime Hits again:
Ali Hattar Arrested on his Arrival to Amman Airport Monday
Report by : Dr. Hisham Bustani
Amman, Monday, March 19, 2001
It seems there’s going to be no end to the oppression in Jordan as the
regime continues its escalation and violations of the basic constitutional
and human rights of its citizens.
+Event of today:
Upon the arrival of Engineer Ali Hattar (a member of the Anti-Normalization
Committee) to Queen Alia Airport in Amman, coming from Damascus, 6-10 police
officers approached him, grabbed him and arrested him. He was then escorted
to a prison truck in view of his family and friends who were there to
welcome him home. The prison truck transported him to the Main Police Center
in Amman, then he was taken to Al-Jwiedeh Prison.
+History:
On 2:00am, January 27, 2001, groups of Special-Police Forces (each group
comprised of approx. 50 masked and fully armed men with bullet proof vests,
helmets, and M16 machine guns) swept simultaneously the houses of 8 members
of the Union of Professional Associations (UPA), all of whom were active
members of the UPA’s Anti-Normalization Committee. The attackers had search
warrants for “suspicion of participating in an illegal organization”.  They
had NO arrest warrants with them. But after a thorough 4-hour search of the
houses, they left taking with them 7 members. The 8th, Ali Hattar, escaped
arrest because he happened to be out of the country at the time. Those
arrested were beaten in front of family members, who were harassed and
scared to their bones by the size and gear of the attackers.
The men arrested were: Eng. Ali Abu-Sukkar, head of the committee, Dr. Ahmad
Armouti, vice president, Eng. Essam Abu-Farha, Attorney Mohammed Abu-Jbara,
Eng. Ghassan Do’ar, Eng. Subhi Abu-Zaghlan, Eng. Abdul-Raheem Barakat. And
of course, the member who was out of the country is Eng. Ali Hattar.
The most outrageous part of the raids was the way officers of the Special
Police Force planted printed statements and papers in all the violated
houses bearing the signature of an unknown Islamist group that claimed
responsibility for the failed shooting attempts on two Zionist diplomats
in Amman last month. (It might be useful to point out here that the eight
members of the UPA whose houses were raided are of various political
backgrounds ranging from left to right. It might be also useful to point
out that anti-normalization is an issue of consensus amongst all political
currents in Jordan). More seriously, police forces planted explosive
detonators in the houses of Eng. Abu-Sukkar and Eng. Hattar in full
view of members of their families.
Ali Hattar, considering what happened to the other members of the
committee (imprisoned for various times, then released later ON
BAIL awaiting trial) stayed in FORCED ASYLUM in Syria until yesterday.
+The return of Ali Hattar:
The return of Ali Hattar from his asylum in Syria was not a move of his
own. Several friends had received concrete assurances in the last week
from the Jordanian Prime Minister, Ali Abu-Ragheb, and the Minister of
Justice, Faris Nabulsi, that Hattar WILL NOT BE ARRESTED ON HIS RETURN,
and that he will only be submitted to a few hours of questioning, after
which he will be released on bail. But the government, as usual, broke
its promise.
Ali Hattar, and his friends of the Anti-Normalization Committee, all
face major charges only for being active in promoting anti-normalization
with “Israel” and for publishing a list containing the names of those who
have warm ties (professional, political, commercial .. etc) with “Israel”,
a move which captured the regime’s disapproval in a vigorous way.
Now, Ali Hattar lies in a prison cell, charged with being a member of
“an illegal organization” (the anti-normalization committee, which is
one of the committees of the Union of Professional Associations, the
LARGEST civil society organization in Jordan with up to 130,000 members!!),
and “possessing explosive detonators” (which family members witnessed
their implantation by police forces the night of the raid on his house!!!).
Please note that the punishment for the latter charge under Jordanian Law
IS DEATH.
+What you can do:
Our friends and comrades, it is of utmost importance that you urgently
send letters of condemnation to the Jordanian Prime Minister and Minister
of Interior, and to the Jordanian and Arab diplomatic missions in your
country (especially that the ARAB SUMMIT will be held in Amman next
Tuesday, March 27). Please demand the following:
i.  The immediate and unconditional release of ALI HATTAR.
ii. The withdrawal of all charges on the members of the
    Anti-Normalization Committee.
iii. The submission of an official apology by the government on
     this issue specifically and on the violations it had committed
     in the past 4 months. Also, all the officials responsible for
     the last show-down with the Anti-Normalization Committee should
     stand trial for misusing authority and forgery of evidence, and
     that relevant ministers should submit their resignations.
iv. That the government should declare its absolute obedience to the
    articles of the Jordanian Constitution, especially the articles
    concerned with liberties and human rights, and stop threatening
    the organizations of civil society.
v. That the government should declare its utmost respect to the
   Jordanian citizen, and his/her right to speak freely as clarified
   in Article 15 of the Jordanian constitution, without intervening
   with its oppressive tools to enforce positions that get along with
   its policies.
vi. That the government should immediately stop the “after-midnight”
    arrests and crack-downs.
For more information, and to send copies of your solidarity letters:
Dr. Hisham Bustani, Fax: + 962 6 4641 613, e-mail: hbustani@hotmail.com
                                               or: alloush@fav.net
+Addresses:
Prime Minister, Ali Abu Al-Ragheb
PO Box 80 352
Amman, Jordan
(Fax: 00962 6 4 642520)
Minister of Interior, Awad Khliefat
Fax: 00962 6 464 0404
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/
Numbers of various Jordanian diplomatic missions around the world:
Roma: 39-06-8606122
Viena: 43-1-405 1031
Madrid: (34) 91-308-2536
La Hay: 317-0-354-1046
Bern: 41-31-382-2119
Bonn: 49-228-353-951
Paris: 33-1-46370206
For more information, please go to:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/committeeInSupportOfPoliticalPrisonersInJordan.htm
################################################
################################################
The Free Arab Voice is an alternative newsletter that comes out
only in cyberspace.
For other FAV issues, please visit:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/favPrevIssues.htm
Sign a real right of return petition at:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/A-RealRightOfReturnPetition.htm
Check out a special slide show on Palestine at:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/RememberPalestine.htm
Read the In Response to Defeatist Thought series at:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/InResponseToDefeatistThought0.htm
To read on Arab contributions to civilization, click on:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/arabCivilMain.htm
For Palestinian Poems in English, go to:
http://www.freearabvoice.org/rhythmsOfTheStorm.htm
The Free Arab Voice welcomes your comments, suggestions, and
submissions.  If you do not wish to be on FAV's mailing list,
please indicate as much by writing to us.





  

    

    

    
FAV Editor: Ibrahim Alloush Editor@freearabvoice.org
Co-editors: Nabila Harb Harb@freearabvoice.org
  Muhammad Abu Nasr Nasr@freearabvoice.org
FAV Home Page - > Please click on the logo above, and we'll FAV you there :)