Jordan - Latest Press Releases

Jordan: Student Adam Al Natour Detained Arbitrarily According to United Nations Experts

JOR - News | 03 November 2016

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has recently released its Opinion on the case of Adam Al Natour, a 21-year-old Polish and Jordanian student who was sentenced to four years of imprisonment by the State Security Court after a flawed trial during which confessions he was forced to sign under torture were used against him. In the decision, the UN experts qualified his detention as "arbitrary" and requested the Jordanian authorities to immediately release him and to open an investigation into his allegations of torture.
On 12 August 2015, Adam Al Natour was helping his father in his garage in Al Bayader, Amman, when 15 members of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) – the country's intelligence agency – arrested him. He was then took to the GID premises where he was detained incommunicado for three weeks. When he was finally allowed to meet with his father, he reported having been beaten and subjected to electric shocks.

10 Years On: Jordan’s Anti-Terrorism Law and the Crackdown on Dissent

JOR - News | 01 November 2016

Ten years ago, on 1 November 2006, Jordan enacted the "Prevention of Terrorism Act", in response to the 2005 hotel bombings in Amman that left 60 people dead. In 2014, faced with threats stemming from the spillover of the Syrian war, the law was amended and broadened to include nonviolent acts, in an attempt to legitimise the government's crackdown on peaceful expression and assembly. Journalists, political opponents, freedom of expression advocates and human rights defenders have since been put to trial under the pretext of "terrorism".

Jordan: University Student Released After 4 Months of Disappearance

JOR - News | 20 October 2016

On 29 June 2016, Abdulmalik Mohammad Yousef Abdelsalam, 26-year-old Jordanian university student, was released from the premises of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) in Amman after having been secretly detained for four months, his family being kept unaware of his fate and whereabouts.

Jordan: A 19-Year-Old Tortured to Confess his “Support to the Islamic State”

JOR - News | 23 September 2016

On 26 September 2016, Hatem Al Darawsheh, a 19-year-old Jordanian high school student, will face trial before the State Security Court for his alleged “support to a terrorist organisation”, based on statements extracted under torture during his interrogation by officers of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID). Concerned over such abuses, Alkarama sent al Darawsheh’s case to Ben Emmerson, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (SRCT), asking him to urgently intervene with the Jordanian authorities to ask for Al Darawsheh’s release and drop all charges against him.

Jordan: Professor Qourshah Released After Three Months in Detention for Acts of Free Speech

JOR - News | 15 September 2016

On 6 September 2016, Amjad Qourshah was released from Jweida prison after almost three months of detention without due process. Concerned over the fact that Qourshah was held in detention solely for having criticized Jordan's participation to the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) lead by the USA. On 15 July 2016, Alkarama had seized the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression (SR FRDX), David Kaye, asking him to urgently intervene with the Jordanian authorities to request his immediate release.

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Jordan - HR Instruments

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

ICCPR: Ratified on 28.05.1975
Optional Protocol: No

State report: Due on 29.10.2014 (5th)
Last concluding observations: 18.11.2010

Convention against Torture (CAT)

CAT: Accessed on 13.11.1991
Optional Protocol: No
Art. 20 (Confidential inquiry): Yes
Art. 22 (Individual communications): No

Last State report: 19.08.2014 (3rd)
Last concluding observations: 25.05.2010

International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED)

No

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

Last review: October 2013 (2nd cycle)
Next review: N/A

National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)

National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) – Status A

Last review: 10.2010
Next review: 11.2015