Three activists have been jailed in Al-Juwaydah prison and accused of 'disturbing relations with a sister Arab nation, Egypt' for allegedly distributing flyers imprinted with the logo of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque, where Morsi supporters had held a sit-in for weeks that was violently dispersed, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
In a move denounced by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, the military prosecutor of Jordan’s State Security Court decided on 30 September 2013 to imprison three Jordanian activists for 15 days pending investigations into accusations against them of ‘disturbing relations with a sister Arab nation, Egypt’.
Activists Humam Kafesha, Ayman Al-Bahrawi and Diaa Al-Din Al-Shalabi have been jailed in Al-Juwaydah prison and accused of ‘disturbing relations with another country’ for allegedly distributing flyers imprinted with the logo of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya movement. Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square is the location of a protest that was brutally dispersed by the military in Egypt and was organised by supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Al-Bahrawi also faces other charges after being accused of insulting certain presidents in the Arab world. Text messages were allegedly found on his ‘WhatsApp’ account containing insults aimed at leaders of certain Arab countries
Jordanian security forces arrested Al-Bahrawi and Al-Shalabi on 27 September for pasting the Rabaa Al-Adawiya logo on a wall in Jabal Al-Manara. Kafesha, a journalist student at Zarqa University who works for a web design site called Kabset Zir, was arrested the next day after security forces stormed his house looking for posters of the same logo.
“Arresting those activists is a clear violation of freedom of expression and an exploitation of vague articles of a law that must be removed from the books,” said ANHRI.
ANHRI pointed out that the presence of the three activists before a military court violates the laws of the Security State Court which were amended in 2013. The law provides that it is not permissible to prosecute any citizen, in any court besides a civilian one.
ANHRI calls on the Jordanian authorities to urgently release the activists and to drop all charges against them. Moreover, it calls for overturning the legal articles that allow for citizens and activists to be prosecuted on account of their peaceful opinions.
