(WiPC/IFEX) – According to Amnesty International, playwright Ali Sneid was recently sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment. **Updates IFEX alert dated 14 October 1997** Background Information According to reports PEN has received, Sneid was detained on 26 September at the bus station in Madaba while boarding a bus. He was initially held in the custody of […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – According to Amnesty International, playwright Ali
Sneid was recently sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment.
**Updates IFEX alert dated 14 October 1997**
Background Information
According to reports PEN has received, Sneid was detained on 26
September at the bus station in Madaba while boarding a bus. He
was initially held in the custody of the General Intelligence
Department in Amman and was then transferred on 2 October to
Jwaideh Prison. He was investigated for allegedly violating
Article 195 of the Penal Code because of an article he wrote, but
which was not published. The article criticised a speech given by
a local leader in Madaba that Sneid regarded as containing
disparaging comments about certain prominent independent
political figures. In 1996, Sneid was previously detained on
account of a play that he wrote. He was held briefly, then
released (see IFEX alert).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
handed down against Ali Sneid
Civil and Political Rights, to which Jordan is a state party,
guarantees the right of individuals “to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers”
Sneid’s unpublished article about the local leader in Madaba,
constitutes a violation of this human right
Appeals To
His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal
King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
The Royal Palace
Amman
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Fax: +962 6 634 755His Excellency Abdul Al-Salam Al-Majali
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
PO Box 80
Amman
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Fax: +962 6 642 520His Excellency Riad Shakaa
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Amman
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Telegram: Minister of Justice, Amman, Jordan
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
