Jordan Times
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Judeh says HRW’s statement 'insulting’ to Jordanians
By Khaled Nuaimat
AMMAN — The government on Monday said recent
remarks by a Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director on the detention of
four Islamist MPs on charges of incitement were “insulting”.
“Such remarks were insulting to a lot of Jordanians,” Government Spokesperson
Nasser Judeh told reporters yesterday at a weekly press briefing.
“The Jordanian government needs no apology from HRW, but the families of the
Amman bombings’ victims need apology letters from HRW Executive Director for
Middle East and North Africa Sarah Leah Whitson.”
Islamic Action Front (IAF) MPs Ali Abul Sukkar (Zarqa, Second District),
Mohammad Abu Fares (Amman, Fifth District), Ibrahim Mashoukhi (Zarqa, First
District) and Jaafar Hourani (Zarqa, Fourth District) were charged with
“fuelling national discord and inciting sectarianism” after condoling the family
of killed Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Mussab Zarqawi and praising him as a
“martyr” and a “holy warrior”.
In her statement on Saturday, Whitson said: “Expressing condolences to the
family of a dead man, however murderous he might be, is not a crime. And it
shouldn’t be grounds for prosecution. Nor should a dubious comment about an
alleged terrorist leader, even by a member of Parliament, be considered
incitement to violence. Going after these people is an unacceptable violation of
their basic rights to free speech.”
Judeh said he was surprised HRW considered the MPs’ comments as part of their
“legitimate freedom of speech”.
Meanwhile, MP Azzam Hneidi, who heads the IAF parliamentary bloc, and Deputy
Tayseer Fityani told The Jordan Times that police last night prevented them from
visiting Abul Sukkar’s family. They added that police also prevented some
relatives of Abul Sukkar as well as his lawyer from visiting the family.
Authorities were not immediately available for comment.