Jordan’s anti- terror law gives offi cials ‘ blank cheque’ : activist

AMMAN, Jordan — A young man dressed in brown prison garb entered the defendant’s cage in Jordan’s newly empowered state security court and listened politely as an intelligence officer he had never met began testifying against him.

“Sir, I apologize for the interruption, your excellency, but this is my first time before a court, and I am unsure of the correct proceedings or my rights,” the defendant interjected.

The man in the cage late last month was Wassim Abu Ayesh, 20, a Jordanian from the city of Irbid who was arrested in August and charged with “promoting terrorist ideology and propaganda through social media.”

Specifically, the prosecutor alleged, Abu Ayesh had posted an Islamic State YouTube video on his Facebook page — a crime now punishable by five to 15 years in prison.

For years, Jordan’s security apparatus has closely watched threats posed by the country’s large refugee population, homegrown militants and radical Islamists, especially after Iraqi operatives bombed three Amman hotels in 2005, killing 60 people. There have been both crackdowns and soft- power attempts to encourage moderate expressions of Islam.

Now, the pro- Western monarchy is responding to the rapid rise of Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq with a tough, recently amended antiterror law, enacted in June by King Abdullah II, a close U. S. ally. Fearing contagion, Jordan has announced that it will not tolerate any open activity, recruitment or support for Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“Our position is that it is not OK to wave ISIS flags,” said Mohammad Al Momani, minister of state for media affairs. “It is against the law, and you will be arrested.”

Islamic State and its supporters “will not find a hospitable environment in Jordan,” he said.

A Jordanian human- rights activist and legal advocate, Taher Nassar, said the June amendments to the country’s 2006 anti- terror law have given authorities a “blank cheque” to arrest dissidents and Islamists alike without charges, and to expand crackdowns beyond suspected terrorists to include government opponents.

“Under the new anti- terror law, any phrase, photo or video shared online can be construed as ‘ inciting terrorism’ no matter what the content actually is,” said Nassar, whose clients include a journalist and six opposition activists facing terrorism charges at the state security court for comments posted on their Facebook pages.

As many as 2,000 Jordanians have fought in Syria over the past three years, according to estimates by the Londonbased International Centre for the Study of Radicalization — not only for Islamic State, but for various religious militias as well as the Free Syrian Army.

In recent months, small, scattered demonstrations of support for Islamic State have taken place in Amman, Zarqa and Maan, where masked youths have waved homemade Islamic State banners.

According to Islamists and their lawyers, between 60 and 90 Jordanians have been arrested for alleged ties to Islamic State under the new anti- terror law. So far, only 11 have been referred to the security court.

Of those, the case of Abu Ayesh, the accused Facebook poster, was the first to be heard.

In this opening session, presided over by three military judges, the defendant was represented by Moussa Abdallat, a feisty defence lawyer for Islamist movements, who wore a rumpled suit and stained tie. The defendant pleaded not guilty. The judge said the trial would reconvene later in October.