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AMMAN — The Canadian government has announced allocating $22 million for UNHCR in Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Friday. The money is part of an extra $100 million that Canada donated to the UNHCR to finance humanitarian aid for Syrians who sought refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey.

The $100 million will be allocated at the country level, with $22 million earmarked for UNHCR Jordan to improve health services and distribute basic relief for underprivileged families in camps and urban areas, the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by Petra. Moreover, protection services include helping orphaned children or those who were separated from their families.

AMMAN — Six people were injured on Friday when their vehicle overturned in Zara area, according to a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Karak CDD cadres administered first aid to the injured and took them to Ghor Al Safi Public Hospital. In another incident, four people were injured in a two-vehicle collision on the desert road. CDD cadres administered first aid and took them to Al Bashir Hospital.

AMMAN — Trade Minister Maha Ali has urged businesspeople and investors from Slovenia to benefit from the incentives offered by Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

In a recent meeting with Mitja Bervar, president of the Slovenian National Council, Ali said Jordan is a gateway into the region’s markets in light of its security and stability, and the many free trade agreements it has signed with other countries.

She stressed the importance of intensifying meetings between the private sectors of both countries to increase two-way trade, which she said is still limited, amounting to no more than $10 million annually, according to a ministry statement released Saturday and carried by Petra.

The meeting also covered economic cooperation related to medical tourism, agricultural production and developing small- and medium-sized enterprises.

AMMAN — Ministry of Culture Secretary General Mamoun Talhouni on Thursday met with Merilla Greko, director of cultural affairs at the Romanian foreign ministry, and discussed ways to enhance cultural cooperation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Friday.

At the meeting, attended by Romanian Ambassador to Jordan Bogdan Filip, Talhouni stressed the importance of cultural communication with Romania through organising various activities. He also reviewed projects that the Culture Ministry implemented this year and its future plans.

Greko reviewed cultural activities to be held in Jordan in the coming months, especially those related to showcasing Romanian culture to Jordanians through film, book fairs and other activities related to the Romanian language.

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) personnel on Friday arrested a suspect involved in a hit-and-run incident in Jerash, which injured a five-year-old who is currently listed in critical condition, according to a Public Security Department statement released Saturday.

Evidence and witnesses’ statements led to identifying the vehicle and its driver, who confessed during interrogation to hitting the girl and fleeing the scene. The CID referred him to the concerned prosecutor. 

AMMAN — Kuwaiti Ambassador to Jordan Hamad Saleh Al Duaij on Friday called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities towards Jordan and alleviate the burdens of hosting refugees.

Attending an event in Irbid to distribute in-kind assistance to Syrian families and children, he said the aid presented to Jordan does not meet more than 25 per cent of the cost of hosting refugees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Duaij, during the event held at a care centre affiliated with Irbid’s Charitable Islamic Centre, distributed financial and in-kind assistance to Syrians and Jordanians. He also commended the relations between Jordan and Kuwait and their bilateral coordination to support joint Arab action.

AMMAN — Mafraq and Ramtha have seen their populations more than double in four years due to the influx of Syrian refugees, leaving the two northern cities struggling to cope with the growing number of residents.    

Situated just a few kilometres away from the Syrian border, the two cities were the first to welcome Syrian refugees fleeing the violence that erupted in their country in 2011. 

Like all Jordanians, Ramtha and Mafraq residents hoped that Syrians would not stay in the Kingdom for a long time, mayors of the relatively small cities said in separate interviews with The Jordan Times on Thursday.

The population of Mafraq, some 80km northeast of Amman, now stands at 200,000, while four years ago it was only 95,000, said Mayor Ahmad Mashaqbeh.

According to official reports, Mafraq is the governorate most affected by the Syrian refugee crisis as it faces challenges related to poverty, unemployment, health and education.

In previous remarks, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury said the poverty rate in the governorate reached around 19.2 per cent, while the unemployment rate stood at 15 per cent, one of the highest in the Kingdom. 

The minister also highlighted problems of rented schools, which constitute 28 per cent of public schools.

“It is not easy to cope with this huge growth in population, but do we have other choices for now?” asked Mashaqbeh, who said poverty rates are on the rise because the cost of living is rising.

He said rents more than tripled in Mafraq, with the rent of an average apartment currently standing at around JD300 per month, while four years ago it ranged between JD100 and JD120.

The mayor cited healthcare services as another sector hard hit by the influx of Syrians, explaining that prior to the refugee crisis, the average waiting time for patients was 15 minutes, while now it is up to two hours. 

“Syrians receive healthcare services at the same facilities that were designed to accommodate the original population,” he said.

Similarly, Ramtha Mayor Ibrahim Saqqar said the situation of key services in the border town is deteriorating due to the sudden growth in population. 

Due to the high demand for housing units, residents of Ramtha, some 90km north of Amman, are building houses in areas classified as agricultural zones, he said.

According to Saqqar, the population of Ramtha has gone up from 80,000 four years ago to over 150,000.

“The municipality cannot rehabilitate the infrastructure that was not ready for this growth in population,” he indicated, adding that the new buildings outside residential areas need water networks and other infrastructure services that the municipality cannot afford to offer.

“We have requested government assistance in establishing the networks, but no support has been received so far,” Saqqar noted.

The mayors said they were disappointed by international aid to host communities affected by the Syrian crisis. 

Official figures estimate the number of Syrians in Jordan at around 1.4 million, of whom 633,644 are registered as refugees with the UNHCR

Around 100,000 of the refugees live in designated camps while the rest reside in cities and villages across the Kingdom. 

Authorities say Syrians now represent nearly 20 per cent of the Kingdom’s population. 

AMMAN — Israeli authorities on Thursday sentenced Mohammad Suleiman to 15 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 Israeli shekels (about JD5,480), according to his father.

The teenager, who was 16 years old when he was arrested in March 2013 while visiting his relatives in the West Bank, faced 27 charges, including attempted murder and injuring 18 Israeli soldiers.

"The fine represents compensation to those who were allegedly injured and has to be paid within two months of the sentence," Mahdi Suleiman, Mohammad's father, told The Jordan Times.

The prisoner's father said he met with the secretary general of the Prime Ministry on Thursday and complained about some Foreign Ministry employees who recently mistreated him when he asked them to follow up on Mohammad's case.

According to a statement from the media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa, the 58-year-old father said the secretary general received him well and assured him that the government would follow up on Mohammad’s case.

Between March 2013 and Thursday, Mohammad, the youngest Jordanian prisoner in Israel’s jails, attended more than 60 hearing sessions, with Israeli authorities repeatedly adjourning his trial for no apparent reason.

On June 14, Mahdi started a hunger strike near the Foreign Ministry to push for help in arranging a visit to his son, and ended it five days later after the ministry succeeded in securing him a visa.

The father visited his son in Megiddo Prison in Haifa, where he spent around 45 minutes with him while separated by a glass barrier, although he was expecting a two-hour visit with direct contact, Mahdi said previously.

There are now 24 Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa member Shireen Nafe told The Jordan Times earlier in November.

AMMAN — Marking a judicial precedent, a First Instance Court on Wednesday sentenced two assailants of teachers to prison terms, according to the Jordan Teachers Association (JTA).

Judge Bassam Khawaldeh of the Aqaba Court of First Instance made the "unprecedented" ruling against a man and his wife who attacked two female teachers last year.

According to the teachers' lawyer, Atef Maaytah, who took on the case pro bono, a student of Salma Bint Omar Primary Coeducational School in Aqaba went home charging that his teacher hit him.

"The student wanted to leave the school before classes were over and his teacher prevented him, so he made those claims," the lawyer told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

The following day, the student's parents came to school asking to meet the teacher in question.

"The wife then entered the teachers' assembly room and slapped the teacher on her face without prior notice. She then attacked another teacher, who was pregnant at the time, when she intervened to defend her colleague," Maaytah added.

He noted that the husband remained outside the room, but kept inciting his wife against the teacher and urging her to "grab her by her hair and bring her to him".

"The teachers filed a complaint, which at first was handled by the Magistrate Court, which I rejected because it is a case of a public employee being attacked while on duty," said the lawyer, who managed to argue the case as a crime, bringing it to the First Instance Court.

Wednesday's verdict, which is "the first of its kind in the history of Jordan", also included the teachers' acquittal from a "malicious complaint" the parents filed against them.

The husband was sentenced to eight months in jail for incitement and the wife to one-year imprisonment for attacking the teachers.

The verdict can be appealed.

“I took a decision to defend any teacher who is subjected to harm or humiliation in Aqaba for free. I cannot stand seeing educators held in low esteem,” Maaytah said.

JTA Spokesperson Ayman Okour commended the “unprecedented” verdict, saying that it will “make people think twice before attacking teachers”.

“We did not want things to go this far. We have always hoped for the relationship between teachers and the local community to be more respectful, but the number and nature of attacks on educators have reached a dangerous point,” he noted.

The JTA has registered 90 attacks against teachers so far this year.

Attacks on teachers are continuing even after the Cabinet approved amendments to the Penal Code earlier this month that stiffen penalties against those who assault educators and medical personnel.

The amended law, which was referred to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, stipulates no less than a one-year prison term for those who attack teachers, faculty members at colleges and universities, nurses and doctors while they are on duty. 

The punishment also applies if the educators or healthcare workers are attacked for an action or decision they have taken in their professional capacity.

Earlier this month, Education Ministry Spokesperson Walid Jallad said the ministry has filed 60 lawsuits against teachers’ assailants, and the minister has tasked the legal division with following up on all assaults.

He added that the ministry will not drop charges against the assailants even if the targeted educators decide to do so.

AMMAN — On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Wednesday, the UN Country Team in Jordan lit up the ancient city of Petra and Amman's Le Royal Hotel in orange. 

The initiative is in response to the call to action of the UN secretary general’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign "Orange the World: End Violence against Women and Girls", which encourages governments, civil society and the private sector to light up iconic buildings and landmarks in orange to showcase efforts to end the pandemic of violence against women and girls, according to a UN statement released Thursday.

The lighting of the archeological site of Petra was conducted in collaboration with the authorities of the Petra Archaeological Park, within the framework of the UNESCO-led "Unite for Heritage" campaign — a global movement to protect and safeguard heritage and to claim the importance of heritage for all, individually and collectively, the statement said.

Other major landmarks in the world were part of this campaign, including Niagara Falls (Canada/USA), the European Commission building (Belgium) and Council of Europe building (France), the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (Denmark), and the Palais de Justice (Democratic Republic of the Congo). 

The ‘orange event’ is also meant to inaugurate the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in Jordan, which the UN Country Team in Jordan is implementing in collaboration with the Jordanian National Commission for Women, the USAID Takamol Gender Programme, and the Dutch embassy in Amman, the statement said.