| Jordanian
Journalist Released from Prison
July 17, 2002
Toujan al-Faisal, the prominent journalist and former
parliamentarian, was released from jail on June 26 after a month-long
hunger strike.
In March Ms. al-Faisal had posted an open letter on the Houston
(Texas)-based Arab Times website accusing Prime Minister
Ali Abu Ragheb of personally profiting from a new government policy
to double auto insurance rates. Under Article 150 of the Jordanian
Penal Code—a vaguely worded “emergency” measure
passed last October ostensibly to fight terrorism--al-Faisal’s
letter constituted a punishable offense. After her arrest on March
29th, Ms. al-Faisal was tried on charges including “publishing
and broadcasting false information abroad which could be detrimental
to the reputation of the state,” “uttering words”
before another deemed to be “detrimental to his religious
feeling,” defaming the judiciary, and inciting “disturbances
and killings.” On May 16, a state security court gave her
the maximum sentence of 18 months.
Since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Jordan
has cracked down even further on journalists. Article 150 of the
Penal Code is the most draconian measure yet. “For the first
time Jordanian law grouped journalists and terrorists in the same
camp,” says Bassem Sakijha, one of Jordan’s leading
columnists. Since the beginning of this year, three other journalists
have been arrested in Jordan. Article 150 is one of a series of
“temporary laws” passed since the dissolution of parliament
in June 2001 that have eaten away at the progress towards democratization
made by Jordan in the late nineties. (For more information, see:
Jillian Schwedler, “Don’t
Blink: Jordan’s Democratic Opening and Closing: MERIP
Press Information Note No. 9)
Both Jordanian and foreign human rights activists had campaigned
for al-Faisal’s release since her arrest. She was released
the day after Jordan’s Chechen-Circassian community, of which
al-Faisal is a member, made a formal appeal for her release.
Although King Abdullah pardoned Ms. al-Faisal’s conviction,
he did not pardon her crime. This will most likely prevent her from
running for parliament in September as she had planned.
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