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Amman:
A Sit-in at the Union of Professional Associations
to Demand the Release of Anti-Normalization Activists

Amman, Jordan
October 10, ?2002

Dozens of professionals gathered at the entrance of the complex of the Union
of Professional Associations in Shemisani, Amman, today to demand the release
of three engineers held up by the order of the State Security Court since
October 7, and October 8, 2002, for their anti-normalization activities.

The three engineers are:

1)   Ali Abu Sukkar, the head of the Anti-normalization Committee of the
     Union of Professional Associations
2)   Maysarah Malass, the head of the Liberties Committee of the Union of
     Professional Associations
3)   Badi Rafay3ah, the head of the Anti-Normalization Committee in the
     Engineers Association

All three engineers have families, full-time jobs, and publicly known
addresses, and have all expressed a willingness to post bails guaranteeing
that they would appear for questioning or trial whenever.  They have been
detained allegedly for belonging to "an illegal group", which is the Engineers
Anti-Normalization Committee, a subcommittee of the legal Engineers Association!
The direct reason for their arrest seems to be pro-Intifada posters printed by
the Engineers Anti-Normalization Association featuring images of Al Aqsa Mosque,
Intifada martyrs, and Palestinian wounded by Zionists.  These posters carried
words urging the support of the Intifada and calling for resisting normal
relations with "Israel".

At the beginning of the current school year 2002/2003, Jordanian authorities
issued a decree banning all pro-Intifada posters and stickers from Jordanian
educational institutions.  A statement issued by the Engineers Association
yesterday insisted, however, that the posters and stickers printed by the
Association are only distributed to registered engineers through the
association's offices in Amman and other Jordanian cities, and that
"no member of the Anti-Normalization Committee has distributed them anywhere else".

It should be noted, nevertheless, that the recent arrests come in the midst
of ongoing tensions between the Union of Professional Associations and the
Jordanian regime that were dotted with accusations by some government
officials and journalists that the Professional Associations have been
"overstepping their professional boundaries into political issues".  These
accusations were frequently brought up to justify a governmental clampdown
on several activities organized by the Unions, including lectures and exhibits.
Many supporters of the Jordanian opposition, though, have brought up "Israeli"
references complaining about the activities of the Union of Professional
Associations.  Thus, one speaker at the sit-in today, Saleh Al Armouti, the
head of the Lawyers Association, said that the arrest of the three engineers
was based on what "Israeli" newspapers like Ma'ariv and Yediot Ahronot wrote
on the anti-normalization activities of the Professional Unions in Jordan.

Armouti also relied on his legal background to argue that the arrest of the
three activists was totally illegal and unconstitutional.  He, furthermore,
wondered why the pack of devil-worshippers caught recently were released while
those defending Jordan from Zionist intrusions are hunted down.  He said that
Jordan is threatened today, and that what is needed therefore is overtures to
achieve national unity, not the oppression of legitimate and legal forms of
expressions.  He urged the government to go after research centers and
non-governmental organizations obtaining funding from Zionist and tainted
sources, and to leave Union activists alone.  Armouti also complained that
the courts, far from being independent, operate under direct orders from the
government.  Then he pointed out that those circles where corruption abounds
should not be pointing fingers at others, but should concentrate instead on
combating corruption.

Other speakers at the rally included the heads of several Professional Unions.
The rally, which is part of a series of activities to be organized by the Unions
of Professional Associations to demand the release of the three anti-normalization
activists, started at one p.m. and lasted for a little over an hour.  Protestors
were carrying banners and chanting calls for the release of the three activists
and opposing normalization with "Israel".  And despite the heavy presence of
security troops in the vicinity, the rally ended without incident, for now..

Later
Ibrahim Alloush