(WAN/IFEX) – In an 11 May 2004 letter to Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the jailing of newspaper editor Fahd al-Rimawi. According to reports, on 9 May State Prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi ordered al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly “Al Majd”, to be remanded in custody for two […]
(WAN/IFEX) – In an 11 May 2004 letter to Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the jailing of newspaper editor Fahd al-Rimawi.
According to reports, on 9 May State Prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi ordered al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly “Al Majd”, to be remanded in custody for two weeks over an editorial allegedly harming ties with Saudi Arabia. He will be held in Al-Jweida prison in the south of the country before being brought before the State Security Court. On 10 May, Hijazi also reportedly ordered the suspension of “Al Majd”.
Al-Rimawi was arrested on 9 May on his return to Jordan from the United States for allegedly “harming relations with a brotherly Arab country”, namely Saudi Arabia, in an editorial published on 3 May. In an editorial headlined “Cowardice is guideline for policies”, al-Rimawi reportedly accused the Saudi authorities of being the “lackeys” of the United States.
