Jordan Times
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Interior Ministry
initiatives seek to promote human, civil rights
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — The Ministry of Interior seeks to promote
human and civil rights through an ongoing series of initiatives, including
prison reform and modifications in instructions governing the entry and
residence of Palestinians in Jordan.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Interior Minister Eid Fayez said the recently
established Human Rights Department at the ministry would address related
complaints and follow up on local and international reports discussing the human
rights situation in Jordan.
The department, one of several units established to upgrade the ministry’s
performance, will also work closely with human rights organisations and bodies
operational in the country.
Fayez said promotion of human rights is part of efforts exerted by the ministry
to contribute to the development process.
“We are not a security ministry. We work to ensure security so as to achieve
development,” he told the press yesterday.
He defended pieces of legislations that have been criticised as repressive, such
as the half-century-old “Crime Prevention Law.”
The law authorises governors and district governors to order the detention of
citizens without charging them (dubbed administrative detention), mostly for
preventive reasons. The minister said the procedure mainly applies to people
with criminal records who are dangerous to society.
Fayez acknowledged that the wording of this 1954 piece of legislation is tricky
and needs to be modernised. He said the ministry is working on this together
with the National Centre for Human Rights.
The minister also explained controversial provisions in other laws, such as the
Public Assemblies Law and the recently enacted the Anti-Terrorism Law.
The basic mandate of these laws is to protect citizens’ lives, Fayez said.
“When we tell people to get permission to stage a rally, it is in their
interest,” he said, “because we will be obliged then to provide this rally with
police protection.”
Recent security incidents in prisons, including the death of a Jweideh
Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre inmate, have prompted the ministry to
come up with a plan to build new correctional facilities in the northern,
central and southern regions.
The new prisons, Fayez said, will meet international standards, avoid
overcrowding and use state-of-art monitoring technologies.
According to ministry figures, there are about 6,500 inmates in the country’s 10
prisons. At least four of these prisons are overcrowded.
The planned facilities will categorise and separate inmates according to their
crimes. Those charged with terror-linked and political crimes will be separated
from prisoners accused or convicted of homicide. Those detained for minor
violations like bounced cheques will be accommodated in special wards where they
will have better facilities than they do now, Fayez told reporters.
Meanwhile, the ministry has set up a committee to study the instructions that
were issued after the administrative and legal disengagement between Jordan and
the West Bank in July 1989.
The minister said the committee is tasked with addressing the “injustices” that
befell Palestine as a result of the decision, but did not provide examples.
When the decision was taken, all Palestinians residing in the West Bank were
considered Palestinian, while others in the diaspora with Jordanian passports
were considered Jordanian, he explained.
The decision was taken to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to act
as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
But following the decision, Jordan gave Palestinians two- and five-year
temporary passports to facilitate travel.
Palestinian green card holders cannot live in Jordan, while those with yellow
cards can reside in both Jordan and the West Bank.