Members of Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently spent two weeks in Jordan, touring five prisons and interviewing their prisoners.  While the organization commended Jordan for opening its prisons, it stated that Jordan needs to address the beatings and mistreatment that are widespread among its prisons. 

On August 22, the day following HRW’s visit of Swaqa Correction and Rehabilitation Center, the security staff beat nearly all 2,100 prisoners held there.  The guards also forcibly shaved the heads and beards of all the inmates.  Most of the inmates are Muslims whose religious beliefs require them to keep a beard.  Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, commented that shavings occurred to humiliate and degrade the prisoners and served no “legitimate penal purpose”.

Following reports of the new beatings, HRW returned to Swaqa on August 26.  They spoke with over 40 inmates who reported that they heard cries of inmates being beaten for over eight hours and showed HRW bruises on their backs, arms, and legs.  The inmates believe that all the prisoners were beaten that night and one, `Ala’ Abu `Utair, died as a result from the abuse.

In response to these new beatings, 350 prisoners at Swaqa cut themselves during HRW’s second visit to the facilities.  Members of HRW report seeing prisoners with cuts on their chests, arms and legs and seeing prisoners cut themselves when the delegation was exiting the prison.  Inmates report that self-mutilation is a common reaction and, like hunger strikes, is designed to draw attention to the abuse of the inmates.

On August 27, Jordan suspended Majid al-Rawashda, the director of Swaqa.  The beatings of August 22 occurred on his first day as the director.  HRW welcomed the suspension as a “swift and necessary action”.  While al-Rawashda was implicated in the earlier abuses, Maj Bashir al-Daaja, the spokesperson for Jordanian Public Security Department, did not say whether the dismissal was connected to the incident.

In addition to the beatings at Swaqa, HRW documented abuses at each prison its delegation visited.  Other abuses include inmates being hung by their arms and beaten over the course of an entire day, an inmate losing teeth as a result of being hit by a metal pipe, and at Aqaba prison, an inmate died as a result of beatings over the course of two days.  Also, at Qafqafa prison, the unsanitary conditions seriously affected the prisoners’ mental health. 

For more information please see:
Human Rights Watch:  “Jordan:  Rampant beating in prisons go unpunished”  30 August 2007. 

BBC:  “Jordanian prison head dismissed”  29 August 2007. 

France24:  “Jordan fires warden after prison disturbances”  29 August 2007.

Middle East Times:  “Jordan inmates hurt themselves during watchdog visit”  28 August 2007.

Al- Hayat, a popular London based pan-Arabic paper, was recently banned by the Saudi government.  It is unclear what caused the banning of the paper, especially because officials stated it was not any single article that caused the government’s regulation.  However, two possible reasons emerge for the government’s displeasure with the newspaper causing the banning of the newspaper.  The first possibility is related to the Al-Hayat’s insinuations that the recent deaths of camels in Saudi Arabia were actually caused by infectious diseases, rather than the government’s view that blamed the mysterious deaths on the camels’ poor diet.  Secondly, the Associated Press suspects that the paper may have been banned because the newspaper recently published an article connecting a Saudi man, Mohammad al-Thibaiti, to an Iraqi extremist group, the Islamic State of Iraq.  Although Saudi Arabia’s reasons for banning the newspaper are unclear the fact that they have silenced the newspaper probably because it criticized the government is alarming.  However, the ban of Al-Hayat may be a unique situation and may not indicate a shift from Saudi Arabia’s new found openness in reporting. 

    Al-Hayat has always had a strenuous relationship with the Saudi government.  In the past the newspaper was banned by the government multiple times, and the government always allowed the paper to circulate again.  Therefore, it is likely that soon this ban will also be removed.  The newspaper has close connections to the government causing the strain.  Al-Hayat is owned by the Assistant Defense for Military Affairs for Saudi Arabia, Prince Khaled bin Sultan.  Also, he is the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.  Since the owner, Prince Khaled bin Sultan, is so closely related to the Saudi government it is likely that his paper is more closely monitored then other news sources.  The Saudi government may have banned Al-Hayat because of Al-Hayat’s close alliance with the government, which allowed the newspaper to access and propagate information that the government deemed sensitive.  Thus, the banning of Al-Hayat is not a clear indicator of stricter rules of monitoring independent news sources from the Saudi government.

BBC News.  Saudis ‘ban’ pan-Arab newspaper.  29 August 2007.

Khaleej Times Online. Saudi bans Al Hayat newspaper for 2 days.  28 August 2007.

Arabian Business.  Leading Arab daily still banned in Saudi.  29 August 2007.

Associated Press.  Saudi Government Bans Leading Arab Paper.  28 August 2007.