Articles for Jordan

Geneva (April 25, 2018) – On December 22, 2017 and January 8, 2018, a teacher and a 19-year-old student were arrested by members of Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID), and subsequently detained incommunicado, tortured, and coerced into confessing to “supporting terrorism”.

In November 2018, Jordan’s human rights record will be reviewed before the UN Human Rights Council during the country’s third Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR process sets out “to prompt, support, and expand the promotion and protection of human rights on the ground” by assessing the human rights situation in each of the UN Member States every four and a half years.

On November 9, 2017, following its review of the current human rights situation in Jordan, the UN Human Rights Committee (HR Committee) published its concluding observations, raising concerns over the human rights violations committed under the pretext of counter-terrorism, the issue of torture and the treatment of refugees, among other issues.

After being disappeared for two months and subjected to torture and ill-treatment over the course of his three-month detention, Ramsi Suleiman, a 39-year-old pharmacist, was released without charge on August 17, 2017 from the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) premises in Amman.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has issued an Opinion calling for the immediate release of 20-year-old Hatem Al Darawsheh, who is currently detained in a maximum-security prison following an unfair trial before Jordan’s State Security Court (SSC).

Ahead of Jordan’s fifth periodic review on October 19 and 20, 2017, Alkarama submitted its shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee (HR Committee) on September 18, evaluating the situation of civil and political rights in the country.

Ramsi Suleiman, a 39-year-old pharmacist in Amman, had been missing since his arrest by a group of General Intelligence Directorate (GID) agents on 23 May 2017. After the authorities refused to provide any information on his fate and whereabouts for about two months, on 16 July, his lawyer, who had come numerous times to the GID premises to inquire about him, was allowed to meet with him for the first time.  

UPDATE: Ghassan Duar was released on July 29, 2018 after the completion of his sentence.

On 22 June 2017, and after more than a month of arbitrary detention, Hussam Al Abdallat, a Jordanian journalist charged with “defamation on social media” for criticising corruption within the Jordanian government through a Facebook post, was released on bail. However, he is still at risk of being sentenced to prison terms as the charges against him have not been dropped.

Ramsi Suleiman, 39 years old pharmacist in the Umm Summaq neighbourhood in Amman is missing after a group of several General Intelligence Directorate (GID) agents broke in his pharmacy and arrested him on 23 May 2017 at 11 pm. The GID members refuse to provide his relatives with any information on his fate and whereabouts or on the reason of his arrest. His family is calling upon the authorities to ensure the respect of his fundamental rights and his security.