Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 27)
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- Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 27)
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Political Prisoners in Jordan
Amnesty International issued the following circular in January.
Amnesty International is concerned
at continuing reports of arrest and short
term detention without charge of political
opponents to the government, some of
whom may be detained solely for the
non-violent expression of their political
beliefs and may therefore be prisoners
of conscience. Amnesty International is
also concerned at allegations that some
of these prisoners have been tortured or
ill-treated during their detention.
Arrests for political reasons are nor-
mally carried out in Jordan by the intelli-
gence services, the largest of which is
the Department of General Intelligence
(Da'irat al-Mukhabarat al-’Amma) based
in Amman. According to the provisions |
from a perch by his wrists and ankles
tied together and beaten intermittently).
Other forms of reported physical ill-treat-
ment include sensory deprivation, depri-
vation of sleep and deliberate mishandl-
ing of food.
Psychological pressure is repor-
tedly exerted on all political prisoners,
whether they are also being physically
ill-treated or not. Reported practices
include solitary confinement, verbal
abuse, threats on relatives, threats on
the prisoner's employability and threats
of being brought to trial with a heavy sen-
tence as a result.
of martial law, in force since 5 June | ~ 7 42 :
1967, such arrests should be confirmed |
within a maximum of 15 days by the | .
Prime Minister, in his capacity as Gen-
eral Military Governor, or by local
administrators empowered to do so as
Local Military Governors. Martial law
provisions invest Military Governors with |
wide powers to arrest anyone consi-
dered a threat to state security. Security
detainees can be held without charge for
an indefinite period or be formally
charged and brought to trial before the
Martial Court, which lacks basic legal
safeguards such as the right of appeal.
Prisoners detained by the intelli- |
gence services are held, usually incom-
municado, for periods ranging from a
few weeks to a few months, after which
they are either released or formally
charged and transferred to an ordinary
prison, awaiting trial by the Martial
Court. The intelligence services are
apparently responsible for deciding
whether a prisoner is to be brought to
trial before the Martial Court or released.
Such a decision is taken weeks and
sometimes months after the arrest, leav-
ing the prisoner until then uncertain
about any pending legal proceedings
against him/her.
When torture or ill-treatment of
political prisoners takes place, it is usu-
ally during the period of detention by the
intelligence services. Reported torture
methods include beatings on all parts of
the body, although beatings are often
concentrated on one part at a time such
as the falaqa that is beatings on the
soles of the feet, and the farruj known as
the parrot’s perch (the prisoner is hung
diers were assembled and iS ne
Al Bayed was a confused p
had an unsuccesful love affe
enemy.
The military intelligence purpose-
fully delayed delivering his body to his
family for burial, and changed the place
to avoid mass participation in the fun-
eral. Many people went afterwards to
pay condolences to Al Bayed’s family |
who stressed that they were not receiv-
_ ing condolences, but congratulations on
ihair's son’ s heroism.
Political prisoners recently sub-
jected to this pattern of short term deten-
tion without charge belong to a number
of political organizations including the
Organization of the Democratic Front in
Jordan, the Organization of the Popular
Front in Jordan, and the Islamic Libera-
tion Party. All political organizations in
Jordan were dissolved in 1957, with the
exception of the Jordanian Communist
Party which was outlawed earlier in
1953.
Amnesty International has received
reports of 35 people having been repor-
tedly arrested and detained without
charge during the past 4 months. They
dar n ‘armed forces or te milit-
intelligence. The g st of this is tar-
al Bayed. the Uoldanian suit ane
attacked the Zionist forcesi in the Jordan -
| Valley on January 29th. Jordanian : sol
ir, and car
tied out the operation as a deliberate |
suicide, not a heroic attack on the
include students, trade unionists,
labourers, engineers, writers and jour-
nalists, as well as a lawyer, a pharma-
cist, a translator and a bank employee.
Six of them were allegedly tortured while
detained. In all these cases the arrests
were reportedly made by the Depart-
ment of General Intelligence and the
detainees were held in the General Intel-
ligence building in Amman. By January
1986, Amnesty International learned
that 13 of these detainees had been
released.
The attached is a list of 55 prisoners
— including those listed above — repor-
tedly arrested by the Department of
General Intelligence and detained with-
out charge in the General Intelligence
building in Amman, unless otherwise
specified. Amnesty International
believes that in all 55 cases the prison-
ers are detained for political reasons.
The organization is at present seeking
details of their detention and clarification
of the allegations of torture involving
some of them.
1Ali ‘Abdul-'Aziz ‘Amer (politician).
Arrested in October 1985 in Amman.
Member of the Palestinian National
Council. Former student leader at Jor-
dan University. Reportedly moved to al-
Mahatta Central Prison in Amman.
2.Bassam Haddadin (trade unionist).
Arrested on 6 November 1985 at home
in Amman. Member of the General
Union of Print, Press and Publications’
Workers. Haddadin was_ reportedly
already detained once, without trial, fora
period of 3 years, and was released in
August 1984. He was arrested the same
day as al-Mreidi and al-As’ad. Repor-
tedly moved to al-Mahatta Central
Prison.
3.Majid Mustafa al-Mreidi (translator).
Arrested on 6 November 1985 at home
in Amman. Member of the Syrian Branch
of the General Union of Palestinian Writ-
ers and Journalists. Al-Mreidi was repor-
tedly already detained once, for 18
months, and was released in August
1984. He was arrested on the same day
as Haddadin and al-As’ad. He is 30
years old. Reportedly moved to al-
Mahatta Central Prison.
4.Mazin al-As’ad (writer). Arrested on 6
November 1985 in Amman. Member of
the Jordanian Writers’ Association. He is
a short story writer. Member of the
National Union of Jordanian Students.
Al-As'ad was allegedly tortured. He
reportedly suffered a heart attack and
was treated at the al-Hussayn medical
center and brought back to the General
intelligence building. Later in December
25
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