Alkarama submitted a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on 18 March 2025 concerning Mahmoud Aletewi, a Jordanian student who was arrested by the General Intelligence Services in Zarqa on 26 February 2024 and accused of visiting websites considered by the authorities to be 'non-compliant'.
After his arrest, Mahmoud Al Etewi was taken to the Jandawil intelligence station in Amman and held incommunicado for 81 days. It was not until 16 May 2024 that he first appeared before a military prosecutor and was formally charged. During this period, he was tortured and subjected to inhumane conditions of detention which seriously affected his psychological state.
He is currently detained in Al-Muwaqqar 2 prison, where his family, who have finally been able to visit him, have noted that his general condition has deteriorated considerably as a result of the ill-treatment to which he has been subjected, which is why his father has filed a complaint of torture with the judicial authorities, which has so far had no effect.
It should be noted that the victim's trial took place before a special court, the State Security Court - a court composed of two military judges and one civilian judge, whose independence and impartiality are regularly questioned by human rights organisations. His trial, which was marred by serious irregularities, ended with his sentencing on 2 February 2025 to three years' imprisonment for "apologising for terrorism", a charge often used in Jordan to repress journalists, political opponents and activists on social networks.
In his communication to the experts of the UN Working Group, Alkarama denounced the torture to which the victim was subjected in order to extract a confession and raised serious violations of his fundamental right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal.
The Working Group was asked to recognise the arbitrary nature of Mahmoud Al Etewi's deprivation of liberty and to urge the Jordanian authorities to quash his conviction and release him immediately.