Eight charged with ‘attempting to undermine the regime’, including former MP, GID officer

AMMAN — Eight suspects on Tuesday were charged by the State Security Court (SSC) prosecutor with “attempting to undermine the regime”, a senior source said.

The indictees, who include a former MP and a retired high-ranking officer at the General Intelligence Department (GID), were detained by security forces on Thursday, the senior official told The Jordan Times. 

“The men were detained for using social media, including Facebook, to spread statements of incitement targeting public opinion and ones that would have a negative impact on society”, according to the senior official source.

The eight were identified by the official as former MP Wasfi Rawashdeh, retired GID Maj. Gen. Mohammad Otoum, Omar Assoufi, Hussam Abdullat, Abdulrahman Dweiri, Falah Khalaileh, Qaisar Muheisen and Khalid Fuqara.

Lawyer Abed Al Kader Khateeb, one of several attorneys representing the suspects, said he will “meet with them in the coming days”.

“I still haven’t had the chance to see my clients, but what I am certain of is that they were arrested for expressing their views about many issues regarding citizens and their living conditions,” Khateeb told The Jordan Times.

If found guilty, they could face prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years with hard labour.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Hani Mulki said that the recent arrest of activists and their referral to the SSC was “a purely judicial procedure and is in accordance with due process”. 

The premier told lawmakers that their fate will be decided by the “just and neutral Jordanian judiciary”, stressing that the charges have nothing to do with freedom of expression. 

The prime minister said the government “respects freedom of expression, as long as it is exercised in accordance with the Constitution and the law and does not compromise higher national interests”.

The arrest of the suspects, however, has drawn criticism from civil society and MPs. 

On Saturday, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) denounced the detention of “national figures and activists”, calling on the government to “immediately release all the arrested figures” and to stop “suppressing public freedoms”.

In a statement, the IAF deemed the arrests politically motivated, coming in the context of “the government’s failure in all economic, social and security aspects” of its mandate.