Late on Sunday, February 13, 2022, the Jordanian security services arrested a group of political activists during a night raid into their family houses, for unknown reasons.
Well-informed sources confirmed that violent night raids were carried out sometimes into nine political activists’ houses.
The nine activists were detained and taken to an unknown detention center, the sources added.
The detainees were identified as: Abdullah Awad Al-Khawaldeh, Ibrahim Al-Zarqawi Al-Khalayleh, Adel Al-Brashat Al-Zyoud, Imad Bakhit Al-Khalayleh, Ahmed Al-Hiyari, Salem Abu Sanubar Al-Abadi, Abdul-Tawahia Al-Abadi, Uday Abu Rumman, and Ahmed Raqmi Al-Hiyari.
Jordan has been downgraded from ‘obstructed’ to ‘repressed’ in a 2021 report by the CIVICUS Monitor, a global research collaboration that rates and tracks fundamental freedoms in 197 countries and territories.
According to the report, the suspension of the last remaining Teachers’ Association, internet shutdowns, and restrictions enforced on journalists, civil society and activists, have led to the downgrade.
For many years, Jordan was classified by Freedom House as a partly-free country. But as of 2021, Jordan’s classification fell back, and it was classified as not-free.
