Local

AMMAN — In the eight years since the Public Health Law was passed, it has not risen to the challenge of curbing smoking in public areas, according to experts in the field.

The issue lies not only in "poor" law enforcement, but also in "lenient" penalties, they noted.

Under the Public Health Law, smoking is prohibited in hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, public transport vehicles, airports, closed playgrounds, lecture halls and any other location to be determined by the health minister.

The law also stipulates that any person caught smoking in a public place is subject to between one week and one month imprisonment or a JD15-25 fine. The same penalties apply to those who sell cigarettes to minors.

Despite some successes, the implementation of the law in governmental agencies and a majority of private institutions offering public services remains "very far" from what the law entails, said Feras Hawari, director of the cancer control office at the King Hussein Cancer Centre.

"Institutions should take the initiative to ban indoor smoking if the government fails to do so," he told The Jordan Times in a recent phone interview, noting that inspection and issuing violation tickets does not fully solve the problem.

Secondhand smoking increases non-smokers' chances of developing cancer and heart diseases by 30 per cent, said Hawari, noting that banning smoking in public areas proved to be the most effective method for decreasing smoking rates by 4-5 per cent over a period of two years.

Meanwhile, he attributed the "weak" law enforcement to the lack of comprehensive and firm adoption of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) MPOWER strategy, which provides a comprehensive set of tobacco control measures.

Jordan's national tobacco control strategy 2016-2018, which will be officially launched on May 31 next year to mark World No Tobacco Day, is to be based on the MPOWER strategy, according to previous official remarks.

Hawari sees a chance to accelerate anti-tobacco efforts in a "firm" implementation of the strategy with the support of decision-makers.   

For her part, Larissa Al-Uar, a founding member and secretary of the Tobacco Free Jordan society, said anti-tobacco awareness campaigns must be designed to alter people’s behaviours and perceptions of smoking, in addition to law enforcement.

 “Anti-tobacco efforts will only succeed when they become a popular demand that people advocate to protect their right to a healthy life,” she said, calling for intensifying penalties on violators as well as equal and systematic law enforcement.

Last month, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour expressed his keenness on combating smoking through action, resolutions and guidance, citing some 1,550 smoking-related deaths every year in Jordan. 

The premier’s remarks indicate the government’s willingness to fight smoking in public areas, said Al-Uar, yet regulations must rise to the challenge of protecting the health of future generations. 

Although Article 54 of the Public Health Law bans promoting and marketing all types of tobacco products, many cafés and restaurants find in social media outlets a suitable medium to announce their offers on waterpipe, she said.

To address the issue, the Health Ministry has recently proposed an amendment to the law to entail stricter penalties on violators, particularly regarding marketing tobacco products, said Malek Habashneh, head of the ministry’s awareness directorate.

He added that suggested amendments to the legislation, which are currently under deliberation at the Lower House Health Committee, increased fines on those caught smoking in a public place from JD15-25 to JD100-200.

Furthermore, a suggested amendment increased the penalty for promoting and advertising tobacco products from JD500 to JD5,000, including advertisements via social media outlets.

He added that two businesses were recently referred to court for violating the tobacco promotion article, one for designing a cake in the shape of a waterpipe and the other for selling illegal electronic cigarettes. 

Jordanians’ annual consumption of cigarettes is estimated at around 1.7 million cartons at a cost of more than JD0.5 billion.

Around 34 per cent of Jordanians between the ages of 13 and 15 consume tobacco, while over 40 per cent of individuals within the same age group have tried tobacco products, according to WHO figures.

According to Health Ministry figures, cancer prevalence rates in Jordan reached 78.5 cases per 100,000 residents, a “low” figure compared to the global rate of 133.4 cases per 100,000 individuals.

A total of 5,013 cancer cases among Jordanians were registered out of an overall number of 7,454 cases recorded by the Jordan Cancer Registry in 2012, according to a ministry statement.

Breast cancer was the most common among Jordanians (1,008 cases), followed by colorectal cancer (567), lung cancer (371), lymphoma (327) and bladder cancer (246).

“We cannot offer to give up in the fight against tobacco… giving up would lead to a disaster,” Hawari concluded.

DEAD SEA — Officials and experts on Thursday called for drafting a strategy tailored to enhance the media’s coverage of elections.

At a gathering on “Media and Elections”, organised by the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) and the Community Media Network (CMN), attendees called for providing proper training for media outlets when it comes to covering elections, so that they become more capable of offering accurate and rich content for the public and contribute to encouraging people to vote.

Parliamentary, municipal and local council elections will be held in accordance with new laws, and the media plays a key role in educating the public and raising awareness in this regard, Riyadh Shakaa, president of the Independent Elections Commission, said at the event, funded by USAID and supported by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

“There are many challenges, but we need to work hand in hand to create a positive electoral environment. Media outlets need to provide information to the public and they are our partners,” said Shakaa.

Stressing that media plays a key role in fostering positive behaviour as far as elections are concerned, Jordan Media Commission Director General Amjad Qadi called for  a strategy to develop the media’s capabilities in covering and reporting on elections.

“Elections-related media differ from other types of media. In this regard, media should play a role by providing needed information to the public to help them make their decision,” Qadi said at the event. 

“If we want properly elected and strong parliaments we need people to base decisions on accurate information.” 

According to CMN Director General Daoud Kuttab, the media’s role in introducing election candidates to the public is crucial.

“At present, media outlets including private TV [channels], social media and other outlets play a significant role in elections,” said Kuttab. 

He stressed the need for more professional, deep and accurate content in media, given that about 63 per cent of content in media outlets is currently from press releases.

CDFJ President Nidal Mansour said media outlets play a fundamental role in protecting democracy and ensuring the impartiality of elections.

“Media is a key partner to restoring confidence in elections, and all stakeholders need to show support in this regard... Civil society organisations at the same time should monitor the performance of media outlets,” said Mansour.

During the two-day event, participants will look into several issues including the electoral climate in Jordan, media priorities and challenges during elections, and the role of media and new media techniques in elections.

AMMAN — An Israeli court on Wednesday sentenced Jordanian engineer Manaf Jbara to eight years in prison and a fine of 6,000 shekels (some JD1,092), a member of the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) said on Thursday.

“Jbara was convicted of planning to carry out resistance operations against the occupation authorities,” Anas Abu Khdeir, JEA media coordinator, told The Jordan Times.

He added that an Israeli court also sentenced Jbara to a 30-month suspended prison term, in case he “plots” any operations after he is released.

A statement from the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel (Fedaa) said he was accused of belonging to a militia affiliated with Hamas in the West Bank.

The sentenced engineer was visiting his relatives in the West Bank’s Tulkarm city, the media coordinator said, noting that Jbara was arrested two weeks after he arrived in September 2014.

The 25-year-old engineer joins other Jordanian engineers detained in Israeli prisons, including Abdullah Barghouthi, Abdullah Zeitawi and Thaer Hwaiti.

Around 25 Jordanians are serving sentences in Israeli prisons, Shireen Nafe, a member of Fedaa, said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.

Akram Abu Zahrah is the most recent freed Jordanian prisoner in Israel. He was released on February 4 after serving a 14-year prison term, while Hwaiti is the latest prisoner in Israel who was arrested on December 24, while trying to cross the King Hussein Bridge on his way to the West Bank.

AMMAN — The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group, on Thursday described the closure of its branch in Aqaba as an “attack” and an “arbitrary” procedure in violation of the Political Parties Law.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times, the IAF denounced the sealing off of its Aqaba office, saying the Political Parties Law prohibits raiding and monitoring parties’ headquarters, and the confiscation of assets and documents.

On Wednesday, the governor of Aqaba closed the IAF’s branch in the port city, some 330km south of Amman, in implementation of a court verdict requiring the handover of the assets of the unlicensed group to the licensed Muslim Brotherhood Society, which was formed last year by a faction describing themselves as reformers. 

In the statement, the IAF said there is no suspicion of illegality regarding its branch in Aqaba, and there is no final court ruling issued yet on closing its offices across the country.

Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani told The Jordan Times that the issue is in the hands of the judiciary now, adding that the IAF branch in Aqaba will remain closed pending a court ruling. 

However, the IAF described the closure of its branch as “political”, falling “within the state’s targeting of the party and its crackdown on partisan life”.

In another statement sent to The Jordan Times, acting IAF Secretary General Ali Abul Sukkar was quoted as denouncing the closure of his party’s branch in Aqaba.

Abul Sukkar urged all those involved in the closure of the IAF’s Aqaba branch to be referred to court, calling on the prime minister to annul the decision and end “all attacks on the group”.

Last June, the new Muslim Brotherhood society sent a “legal notification” to the old group asking it to hand over all belongings to the “legitimate” society, but no response has yet been received.

The unlicensed movement has repeatedly charged that the establishment of the new Muslim Brotherhood Society is a “government conspiracy” against the Islamists, but authorities have said it is merely an “organisational” issue. 

AMMAN — With 55 per cent out of a sample of 25,662 University of Jordan (UJ) students believing that women’s jobs impact the family negatively, and 50 per cent believing men make better politicians, experts called for using education to promote women’s economic participation.

The views expressed by the students in the recent Centre for Strategic Studies study, the experts said, are products of patriarchal social views reinforced by school curricula, calling for more efforts to counter gender stereotypes and encourage women to become more productive members of society.

In addition to reforming education to show the benefits of having women in the labour market, they called for having crèches at the workplace to serve working mothers, as many women tend to quit their job once they have children.

The unemployment rate in the Kingdom stood at 13.6 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Department of Statistics figures, with the rate among women standing at 23 per cent, compared with 11.7 per cent among men. 

“Educated women better raise children, women who have jobs are better partners,” economist Yusuf Mansur said, calling for countering the mindset that educated and working women devalue men.

“They want women to act upon their whims — [to be] persons who have no rights or character,” he told The Jordan Times in a phone interview. “What contributes to this mentality is the discrimination in the workplace and unequal pay.” 

Mansur called for a “better transportation system” to ensure the safety of women commuting from home to work.

Sociologist Hussein Khozai, a professor at Balqa Applied University, said the large number of students who see a negative impact of women’s economic participation did not “come out of nowhere”.

It is the result of witnessing the experiences of their relatives especially that “most of their mothers are working women”, Khozai argued.

“Students represent the visions and journeys of their parents, the percentage is accurate and the burdens on women are heavier after marriage,” he told The Jordan Times. 

But he insisted that “many professions need women, for their contribution and participation in the economy encourage the public to participate as well”. 

Commenting on the study, Salma Nims, the secretary general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women, said the percentage is “sad but not shocking”.

“We are still teaching a school curriculum that doesn’t promote women’s economic participation; it doesn’t include female role models, whether they are local, regional, or even global,” Nims told The Jordan Times, adding that teachers still “hold on to the old mindset”.

“There haven’t been any efforts made to transform social attitudes towards women in Jordan; we are still limited to the stereotypical roles of women.”

Nims argued that the “students who agreed [in the survey] are not even judging out of experience; they don’t know”, stressing that children of working mothers tend to be “more independent” and “spend more quality time with them”.

To counter the stereotypes, she called for conducting a scientific study on how to improve the living condition of women and provide them with better opportunities.

“Change has to start in schools and be mainstreamed in universities. We have to educate students on the importance of gender equality.”

Professor Rula Quawas, who teaches feminism and American literature at UJ, said the study shows the mentality of the younger generation.

“I teach at the university every single day. Sadly, many of my female students believe women belong in the [house], as home-makers and good wives. It is a mindset that I deal with every day,” Quawas told The Jordan Times.

Around 66.7 per cent of UJ’s some 45,000 students are females.

To counter this mindset, Quawas said people have to encourage women to get involved and convince them that they can multitask, balancing between work and home.

“The government needs to offer women creative jobs, because, in their [women’s] heads they are convinced that the easy way out is to work from home, waiting to get married,” she said.

“No matter how long the woman has been in the job market, it is always a struggle… It’s a man club, women have to work twice as much.
They get tired.”

She said when women are given assistance at home, they can balance more between their different roles, emphasising the importance of “gender-bending”.

“We have to rewrite the narrative of dos and don’ts, to exchange roles and to convince our men that it is OK to help their partners, it’s a joint effort.”

AMMAN — Police in Irbid on Thursday said five individuals suspected of setting two houses and a car ablaze were arrested in Sarih town in Irbid, some 80km north of the capital, late on Wednesday.

The five were part of a group of men from the same family who engaged in a brawl with another group from a different family over personal disputes, said Irbid Police Department Director Brig. Gen. Ali Hamlan.

“Some properties were set ablaze but no one was injured in the fire,” the police official told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Hamlan added that a special unit raided the houses of some of the suspects late on Wednesday night and arrested five people.

“We are searching for more suspects in connection with this incident,” he said.

The police official would not elaborate on the cause of the fight, but said that “they were all neighbours and probably that was a contributing factor”.

Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said the situation was brought under control on Wednesday night.

“The situation is normal and we have arrested several individuals as a result of our ongoing investigations,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan, the chairman of the board of trustees of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS), on Thursday met with a delegation from the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies and discussed regional and international issues, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Prince Hassan called for a holistic approach to deal with the region’s needs, instead of focusing on specific sectors. He stressed the need for inter-faith dialogue for the best interest of all and on the basis of human dignity. The delegation, which includes diplomats and experts from several countries, was also briefed on the history of RIIFS and its achievements.

AMMAN — Amman Attorney General Ziad Dmour on Thursday said the Amman Court of First Instance’s ruling rejecting the handover of Jordanians to French authorities can be appealed.

Dismissing as baseless news reports that the ruling is final, Dmour said he has already appealed at the Amman Cassation Court.

Some news websites published reports on Thursday charging that the Amman Court of First Instance has refused to hand over Jordanians to French authorities, ruling that the case does not fall in line with the requirements listed in the 2012 Treaty of Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters and the prisoner exchange agreements signed between Jordan and France.

AMMAN — One man died and three others were injured on Thursday while working at a Water Authority of Jordan project in Karak, implemented by a local contractor and supervised by a local consultant, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted an official source at the Water Ministry as saying.

The injured were taken to Karak Public Hospital, where one of them is in the intensive care unit and the other two were listed in fair condition, according to the source. The ministry, in cooperation with security and concerned authorities, will take necessary measures against whoever is responsible for the incident, the source said. The Water Ministry also formed a “high-level” committee to investigate the incident.

AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) on Thursday gave 39 defendants 10 days to turn themselves in to the authorities in order to stand trial; otherwise, they will be deemed as fugitives, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The SSC said it will also place the assets of these defendants under the government’s jurisdiction as long as they remain at large. The court has ordered police to arrest these 39 people on sight to bring them to justice. Moreover, the court has urged anyone who knows any information about their whereabouts to come forward.