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AMMAN – The government’s coordinator on human rights, Basil Tarawneh, said on Sunday that the national human rights plan that His Majesty King Abdullah has received and was launched on Saturday, represents a comprehensive roadmap created by using a participatory approach.

The plan was created in accordance with sources that included the Sharia (Islamic law), the Constitution and international and regional conventions.

Tarawneh explained that the plan includes a vision of society based on justice and protecting human rights and dignity.

The plan is divided into three main pillars: civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups.  

AMMAN –– Four children were injured when they were attacked by a pack of stray dogs in Jerash, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

Area residents have complained about the spread of stray dogs, especially in Muqbela and Souf villages in Jerash, where parents have to escort their children to school to ensure they are not attacked.

The Jerash Municipality Director Akram Bani Mustafa said there is a noticeable increase in the number of stray dogs, stressing the need for an urgent solution to this issue. 

AMMAN — Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji on Sunday met with Paphos Mayor Phedon Phedono in Cyprus and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two cities within the twinning agreement, whose first part was signed in Amman and the second part was signed during this visit.

Biltaji, Jordan’s Ambassador to Greece and Cyprus Fawaz Aitan, Amman Chamber of Commerce President Issa Murad and other delegation members had a first-hand look at projects Paphos is implementing in preparation to host the 2017 European culture capital events, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Biltaji reviewed cultural events Amman will participate in during the 2017 Paphos celebrations.

AMMAN — Border Guards received 296 Syrian refugees over the past 72 hours, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army said on Sunday in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Border troops provided the new arrivals with humanitarian assistance and made the arrangements to transfer them to official camps.

The Zaatari, located some 90km northeast of Amman, is Jordan's major camp for Syrian refugees.

It is currently home to 79,559 refugees, according to the latest UNHCR figures.

Last year, Border Guards received a total of 16,997 Syrian refugees, offering them the necessary assistance and transporting them to camps, according to official army figures.

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Sunday refuted claims of foreign interference in drafting the Kingdom’s laws, stressing that all laws are worded independently according to internal needs.

Ensour’s remarks came during Sunday’s Lower House session in response to some MPs who charged that the government’s 2016 amendments to the 2008 Protection against Domestic Violence Law “have been dictated by foreign sides”.

“There was no communication with foreign sides while amending the law,” Ensour said. “The issue of domestic violence has increased to an alarming rate that requires a new approach.”

The session saw a number of lawmakers claiming that the new law was the outcome of foreign interference, while others charged that the new amendments violate the privacy of the Jordanian family.

The premier explained that Article 4 of the law has been rephrased so that providers of health, education and social services in the public and private sectors can report any domestic violence case against women and children they notice. 

“The law stiffens penalties and addresses flaws in the old version,” Ensour told deputies.

The House referred the 2016 amendments to the 2008 Protection against Domestic Violence Law to the joint legal and women committee for review. 

The law, according to its validating reasons, aims at improving protection measures against domestic violence, in addition to providing psychological and family guidance services. 

AMMAN — The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) solved 453 cases of murder, theft and fraud over the past 20 days, the media office of the Public Security Department (PSD) said in a statement on Sunday. 

The statement said CID personnel have arrested 4,070 suspects since the beginning of March, some of whom are classified as “very dangerous” and 1,071 of whom are wanted by CID for criminal acts related to murder, fraud and car theft. 

Two murder cases were solved, and suspects were arrested and referred to the legal authorities, according to the statement, which said that 50 stolen cars were seized so far this month. 

The media office said a man classified as “very dangerous” was arrested in Irbid for 36 criminal cases and another in northern Marka in Amman wanted for 22 cases related to shop robberies. 

A suspect in Ruseifa was arrested and during investigations confessed to committing 11 home and shop thefts, the statement said, while another suspect was arrested for crimes related to drug dealing and possession of weapons. 

The media office noted that among the wanted people arrested this month was a suspect of an Arab nationality who confessed to being involved in 30 house thefts in Amman, adding that money, jewellery, electronic devices and mobile phones were found in his house. 

The PSD said 38 people were arrested on charges related to fraud, among whom is a man in Northern Badia who defrauded victims by claiming that he has a large sum of money in dollars and wants to sell it at a cheap price. 

AMMAN — Five Jordanian students have been detained by Sudanese security authorities and are being interrogated over claims that secondary school national exam test papers were leaked and obtained by some Jordanian students in the African country, a lawmaker said Sunday.

“We have official information from the Foreign Ministry and the Jordan embassy in Sudan that five Jordanians are still in the custody of the Sudanese authorities. We were told they might be released by late Sunday, but there is no information yet,” MP Mustafa Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times.

“The Sudanese authorities want to know who leaked the exam questions. It is certainly a Sudanese local who leaked the questions and the authorities want to know who is involved,” said the lawmaker.

Over the past few months, several Jordanian high school students started travelling to nearby countries, including Sudan, to complete the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination, believing that exams are easier abroad and that they can achieve higher scores to be able to study at Jordanian universities and major in specialties they desire, said the lawmaker.

Students’ secondary school scores decide which university they can apply to and what majors they can study.   

The Foreign Ministry was not available for comment in spite of several attempts by The Jordan Times, but the Education Ministry said in a statement that secondary school certificates from Sudan will not be officially accredited in Jordan.

In the statement, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the ministry said any secondary education certificate released by Arab schools in Sudan is also not officially accredited, noting that the decision is due to the leak of exam questions.

AMMAN — Joint patrols from the Rangers, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) and badia forces seized 14 eagles found with Arab nationals during the past two weeks, the RSCN said Sunday.

The society said these eagles are wild and not allowed entry into the Kingdom according to regulations, because they are used in hunting other wild animals and listed as endangered species, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

AMMAN — Run Jordan has recently held a training workshop in Karak Governorate for physical education teachers and running coaches at 29 public schools, a statement said Sunday. The participating areas included Al Qasr, Karak, Mazar and the Southern Ghor.

This training workshop is part of the Junior Runners Programme, implemented by Run Jordan in cooperation with the Education Ministry and Madrasati Initiative, to promote long-distance running at public schools by empowering boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 12 to develop professional Jordanian runners and champions.

Participating teachers were trained on the basics of local distance running, posture, form, pacing and basic athletic skills to assist them in guiding, motivating and teaching their students proper techniques, the statement said. 

AMMAN — Jordanian tourism professionals promoted Jordan as the region’s premier destination for hosting meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) to the Turkish and international markets from March 16 to 18, according to a statement released on Sunday by the Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association (JITOA).

The association, the Jordan Tourism Board, 10 local trade representatives, Royal Jordanian and three hotels participated in the “ACE of M.I.C.E. Exhibition” in Istanbul, with support from USAID Building Economic Sustainability through Tourism Project.

The sector leaders promoted Jordan as a MICE destination to over 11,000 international participants in the exhibition from 25 countries. “Jordan’s MICE industry can positively impact tourism development and stimulate economic growth and job creation in destinations and their communities within all parts of the country,” the JITOA statement added.