Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 20)
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- Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 20)
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Jordan
Security Forces Attack Political Prisoners
The regime in Jordan continues to
escalate repression and terror against
our people and the nationalist forces in
Jordan.The authorities’ barbaric attack
on the political prisoners in Al
Mahattah, on August 6th, was a cri-
minal act, contrary to all humanitarian
principles. It confirms, once again, the
regime’s insistence on continuing its
bloody policies in order to tame the
masses, and impose acceptance of
direct negotiations with the Zionist
enemy and liquidation of the Palesti-
nian cause, contrary to the national
interests of the Jordanian people.
The Ifran meeting between
Morocco’s King Hassan II and the
Zionist prime minister, Peres, was an
exploratory step to prepare for King
Hussein’s moving from secret to open
negotiations with the Zionist enemy. In
order to make his big step, the king has
to prepare the domestic situation in
Jordan by bridling all active mass
opposition that would be an obstacle in
his path. This duplicates the Zionists’
policy in occupied Palestine, aimed at
subduing our people into accepting an
alternative to the PLO, one that will
not conflict with their liquidationist
plans and the infamous Reagan plan.
The barbaric attack on the political
prisoners, like the closure of PLO
offices in Jordan, and the approval of
the economic ‘development’ plan for
the occupied territories, are all steps to
prepare for the king’s big step!
COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY
THE COMMITTEES FOR
THE DEFENSE OF DEMO-
CRATIC FREEDOMS IN
JORDAN (IN EXCERPT)
The Committee for the Defense of
Democratic Freedoms in Jordan
published the following report on the
details of the attack, in order to alert
international and Arab public opinion,
and committees concerned with defen-
ding human rights, to the continuous
and escalating terrorist practices of the
security forces against the masses and
the political and national forces in
Jordan. Recent examples of this terror
include the bloody attack on Yarmouk
University on May 1Sth, to suppress the
students; the open interference in the
elections in Irbid province on June
19th, and then the terror campaign
against the political prisoners in Al
Mahattah on August 6th.
The recent attack against the mili-
tants of the Jordanian national move-
18
ment and the Palestinian revolution, in
Al Mahattah prison, is part and parcel
of the general policy aimed at terrori-
zing the Jordanian masses and repres-
sing the militant forces. It aims at
depriving the political prisoners of the
legitimate rights which they have won
by hard struggle, beginning in the early
seventies.
The Committees for the Defense of
Democratic Freedoms call on public
opinion and international and Arab
humanitarian and democratic institu-
tions, to act immediately to alleviate the
terror against the political prisoners; to
have the prisoners’ rights restored; to
condemn the cruel attack of the Jorda-
nian security forces against the priso-
ners of the national movement and the
Palestinian revolution; and to demand
improvement of their conditions in
prison.
Below are the details of the attack on
the prisoners in Al Mahattah, as
reported to the Committee for the
Defense of Democratic Freedoms in
Jordan:
On August 6th, at $:30 p.m., a joint
security force, estimated to be a whole
brigade of the special forces, invaded
Al Mahattah central prison in Amman.
They searched the cells, and humiliated
and tortured the political prisoners.
The search continued for 12 hours,
ending at 6 a.m. the next day.
The force searched the cells in a pro-
vocative manner. They destroyed all the
kitchen utensils and other equipment,
and confiscated all the prisoners’ pos-
sessions such as books, radios and
foodstuffs. They also ruined facilities
that serve the prisoners, such as the
cafeteria. They destroyed the tools used
by many of the prisoners to make han-
dicrafts, the sale of which is the only
source of income for them and their
families. The attackers even ruined
plants and all the facilities that the pri-
soners had been able to gain, by many
years of struggle, to improve their
living conditions.
During the search, which was sup-
posedly for weapons, the prisoners
were humiliated and _barbarically
beaten. Many were injured and two
were transferred to the hospital. The
eardrum of one of the prisoners was
punctured due to beating.Another pri-
soner almost strangled after being
pulled around the prison with a rope
around his neck.
Over 1,500 books were confiscated
from the prisoners. Fifty thousand
Jordanian dinars worth of personal
possessions were ruined. These losses,
though, are insignificant compared to
the dangers posed to the health of the
political prisoners. Very little food is
given to them, not to mention the qua-
lity. The prison kitchen is equipped to
prepare food for 100, whereas there are
now over 1,000 prisoners in Al
Mahattah. Moreover, the prisoners are
not allowed to receive food from their
families.
After the incident, the prison admi-
nistration imposed restrictions on the
prisoners’ visitors. The prisoners’
families and friends undergo a strict
search in three stages. They are humi-
liated and not allowed to bring food,
clothes or books to the prisoners.
The prisoners submitted memoran-
dums to the president and members of
parliament, to the prime minister and
to the International Red Cross and
other humanitarian institutions, con-
demning this terrorist attack against
them, and demanding that their pos-
sessions be replaced and their condi-
tions improved. The prisoners also
decided to stop receiving visitors as a
protest, until their demands are met.
It is noteworthy that the attackers
were the same forces that invaded
Yarmouk University in May. The
attack on Al Mahattah prison was led
by the vice-director of the general
security and former head of the general
intelligence, Mohammed Obeidat, in
addition to 12 colonels of the special
forces and general security.
The Committees for the Defense of
Democratic Freedoms in Jordan call on
the International Red Cross, Amnesty
International, the Arab Organization
for Human Rights and the Arab
Lawyers’ Union, to send representa-
tives to meet with the political prisoners
in Al Mahattah prison, to witness their
inhuman conditions and publish the
facts. ) - هو جزء من
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