Al-Zoubi's case reveals the misuse of the Cybercrime Law to suppress online free expression.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 20 January 2025.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has received reliable reports confirming that well-known writer and journalist Ahmed Hassan Al-Zoubi has been released from prison in Jordan.
On 16 January 2025, the Amman Criminal Court’s Judge decided to agree to replace the prison sentence with a community service penalty, and he was reunited with his family that same evening.
On 2 July 2024, Jordanian security forces arrested Al-Zoubi while he was with his wife and children on his way to his hometown of Al-Ramtha, in northern Jordan. He was imprisoned to serve a prison sentence issued against him in the previous year.
The Court of First Instance had issued a ruling against him on 22 June 2023, sentencing him to two months in prison and a fine of 50 Jordanian dinars ($70 USD). This was related to a post he published on his Facebook page in December 2022, during a strike by transport truck drivers in Ma’an Governorate against rising fuel prices, in which he criticised the authorities’ handling of the events that accompanied the strike. Ma’an Governorate is about 218 km from the capital, Amman.
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While GCHR welcomes the release of prominent writer and journalist Ahmed Hassan Al-Zoubi, it notes that he should not have been imprisoned in the first place. Furthermore, GCHR calls on the Jordanian authorities to release all prisoners of conscience, including the following:
Journalist Hiba Abu Taha, who was arbitrarily arrested on 13 May 2024, and on 11 June 2024, was sentenced by a criminal court in Amman to one year in prison under the Cybercrime Law.
Political activist and mathematics teacher Ayman Sandouqa, a leader in the Partnership and Salvation Party, who was arrested on 21 December 2023, and on 7 January 2025, was sentenced by the State Security Military Court to five years in prison after being convicted of “incitement against the ruling regime” related to his posts on social media in which he declared his solidarity with Gaza.
Political activist Sufyan Khraisat, who was arrested on 15 November 2022, and on 21 November 2023, the State Security Court sentenced him to five years in prison after convicting him of the crime of “inciting opposition to the political regime,” and another five years for the charge of “committing acts that would disturb public order.” The sentence was reduced to four years due to his advanced age of 58 years.
Political activist Sabri Al-Masha’leh, a member of the Dhiban Movement, who was arrested on 22 October 2018; on 27 December 2023, the State Security Court sentenced him to four years in prison after convicting him of the charge of “inciting the undermining of the regime” due to his posts on social media.
