Jordan, which was ranked 143 out of 180 on the Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index, has used a counter-terrorism law to detain at least five journalists this year.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, most of these charges come from “disturbing Jordan’s relations with a foreign state,” something that has been a crime under the country’s law for several years.
While the State Security Court reform law, passed in early 2014, removed this charge from the jurisdiction of the court, lawmakers reverted the reform by adding the provision to Jordan’s terrorism law, adding a penalty of three to 20 years in prison in April 2014.
The most recent incident, according to Human Rights Watch, comes from July 8, 2014. Ghazi al-Marayat, a journalist with the newspaper al-Rai, was detained for publishing details about a foiled terrorism plot.
The al-Rai article disclosed details of the State Security Court charge sheet involving an Iraqi-Norwegian man arrested in Jordan in April. Various media outlets had reported on July 6 that the State Security Court issued a media gag order, but the editor-in-chief of al-Rai, Tareq al-Momani, said on July 8 that “Al-Rai newspaper did not receive any written circular from the prosecutor imposing a ban on publishing on the Iranian Quds Force plot.
The second case involves, Jamal Ayoub, a freelance columnist, who has been in jail since April 22 for writing a piece criticizing Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen.
Other journalists detained in 2015 include Seif al-Obeidat, the editor-in-chief, and Hashem al-Khalidi, the publisher of Saraya News, a news website based in Amman. The two were arrested on January 28 after the site posted an article on negotiations between Jordan and ISIS over the release of al-Kasasbeh, a Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot. The article quoted a lawyer who gave false information, which other publications picked up.
A statement by Saraya News issued on January 29 said that the men were arrested after the site posted “a quote by a lawyer, whose quotes all the news websites publish as he is the lawyer for the Salafis in Jordan.” Authorities released al-Obeidat and al-Khalidi on March 8 on bail, but both are on trial before the State Security Court.
The website that got into trouble for spreading false information received some criticism as well.
Saraya news was shut down yesterday for spreading false information. Was this the right move or is it censorship? #Amman #Jordan
— Bliss 104.3 (@RadioBlissJo) January 29, 2015
While the country has had several incidents of censorship with the government often blocking websites, the way a counter terrorism act is being used to “tackle journalists” might be a recent development.
Adam Coogle, the author of the Human Rights Watch report who has been following press freedom in Jordan closely, told Poynter, “In these cases, it appears that the publications did cross the red line, often writing provocatively. I’d expect that they knew such an action might happen.”
