Jordan Times
Friday, July 7, 2006
Human rights delegation
calls into question death penalty
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — A delegation from an international human
rights group is visiting the country this week to discuss the issue of the death
penalty and prospects of abolishing or placing a moratorium on it.
According to Nizam Assaf, director of the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies
(ACHRS), which orchestrated the seven-day visit by members from the Paris-based
the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the organisation was
encouraged by signs that the maximum penalty is under review.
Assaf, a political science professor and a human rights activist for 12 years,
said the delegates discussed with concerned officials legal guarantees for
persons sentenced to death.
They also discussed possibilities of removing the death penalty imposed on
certain crimes as a first step towards a total abolishment of or moratorium on
the penalty.
“This is an international trend now. More than 100 countries in the world have
abolished or frozen the death penalty,” Assaf, whose centre is a member of the
federation, said.
The delegates, who started their visit on Wednesday, have met with several
officials and representatives of concerned civil society institutions. They also
met top officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and interior, in
addition to the Higher Judicial Council.
Additionally, the delegation met with Ahmad Obeidat, president of the National
Centre for Human Rights, which the government set up several years ago to
promote human rights in the country.
Assaf said the activists also visited Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation
Centre, where they met with people on the death row.
“The general impression was good. The delegates found a diversity of opinions
among officials and others regarding the death penalty,” the organiser of the
visit said.
He added that the agencies visited were very “positive, transparent and
cooperative.”
The FIDH and ACHRS issued in March a joint statement in which they expressed
their “deep concern” over the executions of Salem Ben Sweid and Yasser Freihat,
who were sentenced to death by the State Security Court for assassinating a US
diplomat in Amman.
Protestations came following allegations by the two men during their trial that
their confessions were taken under duress.
Since 2002, FIDH has initiated or supported key proceedings before domestic
courts, as well as regional and international mechanisms, in cases concerning
arbitrary measures and practices in the fight against terrorism, according to
the organisation’s website.