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AMMAN — A gas station worker in Balqa Governorate was stabbed to death earlier this month because he asked the motorist to put out a cigarette. 

Some two years ago, young man shot a minivan driver to death near a busy circle in Amman over a fierce argument on the right of way. 

These two incidents are examples of several others that left people killed over “ridiculous or stupid reasons”, according to experts, who told The Jordan Times that some crimes in the Kingdom start as arguments or disputes before developing into murders. 

The experts blamed stress exacerbated by the increase in population for most of the violence incidents reported in the Kingdom.

University of Jordan sociology Professor Majd Adeen Khamash said the Jordanian society has recently been witnessing clashes and fights over “unworthy” matters, such as fights over parking spaces or cleaning staircases in housing complexes, all of which can be solved through proper verbal communication.

“Residents of cities usually develop an adaptation mechanism to cope with that sort of tension,” he told The Jordan Times, adding that those who fail to do so are more likely to express rage when provoked by simple incidents.

Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said police stations across the country handle a lot of cases involving brawls on a daily basis, some of which are resolved in stations, while others are referred to courts, such as cases that involve killing.

He told The Jordan Times that the frequency of violent fights in the country are within normal ranges and are subject to “substantial” increase due to the growing population, which now stands at around 9.5 million.

Non-Jordanians represent around one-third of the Kingdom’s population, with their number estimated at 2.9 million, of whom 1.26 million are Syrians.

According to Department of Statistics, Jordan also hosts 636,270 Egyptians, 634,182 Palestinians, 130,911 Iraqis, 31,163 Yemenis, 22,700 Libyans and 197,385 from other nationalities.

Sartawi added that the spread of weapons among civilians over the past five or six years, is a matter that the PSD should address through campaigns and raids in order to arrest violators.

Commenting on this issue, Khamash called for the endorsement of a law that bans civilians from obtaining licensed or unlicensed weapons, since the PSD is capable of ensuring public safety. 

He explained that preventive measures to curb societal violence, such as banning weapons, are more efficient than trying to fix the outcomes of such acts.    

The Penal Code stipulates “suitable and sufficient punishments” that were amended several times to intensify penalties for new or emerging violations, such as violence against public employees on duty, said lawyer Fahed Kasasbeh.

But neither intensifying the punishment nor adding new articles to the law would decrease crime rates, said Kasasbeh, who is also a professor of criminal law at Amman Arab University, highlighting firmer law enforcement as the key contributor to combat crime. 

He explained that long litigation periods, due to the limited number of judges and the rising number of cases, diminish the significance of the legal process and give violators the feeling that they could escape punishment.

Furthermore, Kasasbeh said that “atwa” (tribal agreement) functions as a temporary conciliation between conflicting parties until civic law decides on the case, highlighting the role of reconciliation in reducing the number of officially filed lawsuits.

Commenting on the use of firearms, he said moves to ban importing weapons are not likely to solve the problem as unlicensed weapons are already widely spread among civilians.

AMMAN — The capital registered the highest rate of pending complaints citizens have filed through the Public Sector Development Ministry against the quality of public services in 2015.

The ministry announced on Wednesday that 29 per cent of the total 94 pending complaints were filed in Amman.

Complains from Irbid, Zarqa and Mafraq governorates made up 35 per cent of the total, according to a ministry report referred to the Prime Ministry.

Some 86 per cent of the complaints were filed against 10 public institutions, at the top which are the ministries of municipal affairs, higher education and awqaf, in addition to the Land Transport Regulatory Commission, according to a Public Sector Development Ministry statement.

The report included some indicators to measure the performance of public institutions and liaison officers, where, for example, the “complaint settlement” indicator showed that 81 per cent of the complaints had been completely resolved and 25 departments had resolved 100 per cent of the complaints against them.

The average time to look into and deal with complaints was around five days, with the Jordan University of Science and Technology registering the shortest time of only two minutes to examine grievances, the report revealed, adding that the average response time to resolve complaints stood at 25 days.

As for the “citizen satisfaction” indicator, the report revealed that 94 per cent of the complaints were resolved in a way that pleased citizens, the statement added.

Public Sector Development Minister Khleef Al Khawaldeh said the ministry in 2015 received 1,739 complaints against 58 government departments, 1,411 of which (81 per cent) were completely resolved.

The average ratio of pending complaints in 2015 decreased to 19 per cent of the total complaints, compared to 29 per cent in 2014, Khawaldeh said in the statement.

AMMAN — A decision to “punish” university students over their views on social media websites raises questions on the legality of holding them accountable for their personal opinions, according to a students’ rights activist.

Recently, two students at Balqa Applied University’s Polytechnic Engineering College in Amman’s Marka area were temporarily suspended due to what the administration claims were “offensive Facebook posts”.

Fakher Daas, coordinator of the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights (Thabahtoona) said there is no legal text that enables universities to hold students accountable for stating their views on social media websites.

“Furthermore, it is very difficult to take action against students over what they write on social media because their accounts can be easily hacked or used by other people,” he told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

Mohammad Atrash, a 21-year-old student of civil engineering at the polytechnic, was suspended for one semester two weeks ago over a post on his private Facebook page.

“Last semester, I wrote something on Facebook that was misunderstood. Although I made it general and did not name names, it caused a clash with a professor who thought it was directed against him,” Atrash told The Jordan Times recently.

Noting that the post was about the attitude of some professors before the deanship elections, the A student was summoned for interrogation by the administration.

“They did not focus on the Facebook status in the interrogations as much as the sit-in I participated in few months ago to call for students’ rights,” claimed the senior, who is now on the verge of losing his JD7,000 scholarship grant from a local fund after the suspension.

His fellow student, Majdi Taamari, is in no better position.

The 21-year-old mechanical engineering student was “suddenly” summoned by a disciplinary committee that questioned him over a Facebook post that was claimed to insult a professor.

“I didn’t even write that status, but a decision to suspend me for one semester came out last week anyway,” Taamari, who is also involved in students’ rights advocacy, told The Jordan Times recently. 

In support of the two students, hundreds of their polytechnic classmates protested inside campus on Tuesday, calling on the management to go back on its decision, according to eyewitnesses.

Officials at the university were not available for comment despite attempts by The Jordan Times to contact them for several days.

The Internet is an “open” and “free” world, Daas said.

“You cannot punish students for their personal opinions,” said the activist, noting that “every Jordanian has written at least two to three Facebook ‘statuses’ that they could be held accountable for by the state”.

“In this case, choosing who to sue or who to neglect becomes a very selective process that is used for other purposes,” charged the Thabahtoona coordinator, explaining that social media posts can “become a tool to restrict students’ activism”.

AMMAN — A 16-year-old girl has been found begging on streets in one of the capital’s areas to collect money to buy drugs for her father, Social Development Ministry spokesperson, Fawaz Ratrout, said on Wednesday. 

“We found out that the girl’s father makes her beg on streets every day so he can buy himself drugs with the money she collects,” he said. 

Ratrout added that the father, who was recently arrested by police, sexually assaulted the girl while “on drugs”.

The victim was in the ministry’s custody for the past three months, the official said, and is currently living with relatives, until the court announces a verdict. 

The teenager will be testifying in the case against her father in court soon, he noted.

He said that the ministry is committed to identify the reasons for the spread of street beggars, especially among young people.

“The reason we chose to  publicise this story is to raise awareness among the public regarding the issue of child labour and street beggars, since begging is not a minor crime — it generates more serious crimes,” the spokesperson added.

He noted similar cases exist in the Kingdom; however, they are “individual acts” and should be limited. 

More than 4,000 beggars were detained by authorities in 2015 alone, Ratrout said in previous remarks.

Adult beggars detained by authorities are referred to police and then to court in accordance with the Penal Code, while juveniles are referred to care centres affiliated with the ministry, where they are rehabilitated.

AMMAN — HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, on Wednesday visited the Central Traffic Department and viewed measures taken to organise traffic around the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the visit, Prince Feisal visited the operations room in the presence of Public Security Department Director Maj. Gen. Atef Saudi, where he was briefed on executive plans to manage traffic. 

AMMAN — Public Security Department (PSD) Director Maj. Gen. Atef Saudi and Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji on Wednesday discussed at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) issues of mutual interest, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Biltaji said GAM’s vision is based on making Amman a friendly and secure city, which requires cooperation and coordination with the PSD. Saudi voiced readiness to increase security protection on the Ghabawi Landfill to prevent scavengers from entering and provide a safe work environment. They also agreed to activate police kiosks in downtown Amman to be used by the traffic department. 

AMMAN — The Royal Court on Wednesday delivered a number of small- and medium-sized buses to 14 societies and centres extending rehabilitation services to people with disabilities, women and young people.

The gesture was part of His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to officials at the Royal Court to continue implementing a number of Royal initiatives targeting underprivileged families, charity societies, orphanages, elderly people and people with disabilities, according to a Royal Court statement.

The benefiting centres and societies were selected with transparency and fairness, and according to geographical considerations in coordination with the concerned ministries, the statement said. 

AMMAN — Ten people suffered poisoning after eating spoiled food at their house in Marj Hamam, a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement said Wednesday.

They were taken to Al Bashir Hospital where they were listed in fair condition. In another incident, four people were injured in a collision involving a pickup truck and a minivan in Amman’s Yadoudeh area.

CDD cadres took them to Al Bashir Hospital where they were listed in fair condition. In Irbid, CDD personnel extinguished a house fire in Irbid caused by a gasoline heater. A woman who was inside the house suffered suffocation and CDD cadres took her to Princess Basma Educational Hospital where she was listed in fair condition. 

AMMAN — Border Guards on Tuesday night foiled an attempt to smuggle illegal drugs on the northeasterly border and killed one of the six involved suspects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted an official source at the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army as saying on Wednesday.

Border troops applied rules of engagement taken in such cases, took control of the two vehicles used in the attempt and arrested five suspects. In the cars the troops found 336 palm-sized sheets of hashish and 120 Captagon pills, which they referred to the concerned authorities.

Also on Wednesday, an army source said Border Guards received 74 Syrian refugees over the previous 24 hours. The troops transferred the refugees to shelters and camps, and Royal Medical Services personnel treated the injured. 

AMMAN — The job of carpenter is classified as a “hazardous” profession, Social Security Corporation (SSC) Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi said Wednesday.

He said that the profession is classified as hazardous because carpenters deal with chemicals, flammable material, are exposed to dust and lead, and work in uncomfortable environments.

He said facilities employing carpenters should supply the SSC with a list of the workers’ names.