(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, at around midnight on 12-13 April 1998, Jordanian authorities detained Yousef Gheishan, a columnist for the daily “Al-Arab al-Youm” and contributor to the weekly “Abed Rabbo”. Gheishan is being held at General Intelligence headquarters in Amman, the capital. Authorities have provided no reason for his detention. **This alert contains a […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, at around midnight on 12-13 April 1998,
Jordanian authorities detained Yousef Gheishan, a columnist for the daily
“Al-Arab al-Youm” and contributor to the weekly “Abed Rabbo”. Gheishan is
being held at General Intelligence headquarters in Amman, the capital.
Authorities have provided no reason for his detention.
**This alert contains a new case and additional information to IFEX alert of
16 April 1998**
According to a report in the English-language daily “Jordan Times”, 15
security agents stormed the house of Gheishan at midnight Sunday.” The paper
quoted Gheishan’s brother who said the agents “searched the whole house and
took everything that had his handwriting on it, his files, and archive” (for
more information on this case see IFEX alert of 16 April 1998).
In a separate incident, staffers at “Al-Arab al-Youm” told CPJ that police
delayed
distribution of three issues of the newspaper last week in order to
pre-censor its coverage of a triple homicide in Amman. On 8 April 1998,
police surrounded “Al-Arab al-Youm”‘s office and then notified the paper
that authorities had imposed a ban on news coverage of the 8 April 1998
murder of lawyer Hanni Naddeh, his son Suhail Naddeh, and prominent
psychiatrist Awni Saad in Amman. According to “Al-Arab al-Youm”, police then
delayed the paper’s distribution until they were able to review the paper’s
contents. According to “Al-Arab al-Youm”, authorities pre-censored
subsequent issues of the paper on 16 and 17 April 1998, again delaying
distribution.
The Ministry of Information has since issued written instructions to
Jordanian newspapers, informing them about the coverage ban. The ban is the
second government-imposed news blackout in less than a month. In late March
1998, authorities sent a series of letters to Jordanian newspapers notifying
them of a ban on coverage of the trial of prominent opposition figure Leith
Shubeilat, who is charged in the state security court with allegedly
inciting an illegal demonstration in the southern town of Ma’an in March
1998 (for more information on this case see IFEX alert of 13 April 1998).
