For the sixth day in a row, the Jordanian authorities continued to detain Mrs. Fatima (Umm Youssef), the late opposition leader Laith Al-Shubailat’s daughter, for participating in a pro-Gaza sit-in near the Israeli embassy in Amman.
According to a press release from the Shubailat family, Fatima was detained by security forces while she was in a commercial market in the Marj Al-Hamam area. She was then taken to the Central Amman Police Station and then moved to the Anti-Cybercrime Unit, where she was taken into custody at the Al-Hussein detention centre.
The family brought up the fact that she was not told of the legal procedures for reviewing the security services and that her request to be released on bail was denied for unclear reasons.
Fatima was brought before the Public Prosecutor last Thursday, the family said, where she was charged with illegal assembly, resisting security forces, and insulting a public employee. “The public prosecutor later decided to detain her for a week, before ordering her release on a bail. But, we were surprised that she was not released on the pretext that she had a second case that had been filled by the Cybercrime Unit.”
The family went on: “Fatima was brought before the public prosecutor again on Friday. He decided to detain her in the Juwaida Correction and Rehabilitation Center for a week and refused to release her on bail on Sunday.”
According to Fatima’s family, her arrest was related to a “fragmented” video clip that was shot by a “person unknown” and shared on social media. In the clip, Fatima is seen protesting on March 30th outside the Israeli embassy against Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip and the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital.
The family clarified that the widely shared video clip was edited to remove the part where Mrs. Fatima was attacked by some security personnel.
In defiance of Jordanian law, which upholds the rights of Jordanian citizens and ensures their freedom of movement, the family denounced the coercion and arbitrary use of force employed by state agencies against Mrs. Fatima and all pro-Gaza detainees. “The law outlines the use of detention as a precautionary exception to safeguard individuals or to prevent the loss of criminal evidence, which is not the case with Mrs. Fatima is assigned.”
Dozens of activists are still being detained by the Jordanian government for protesting in support of the people of Gaza, who have been living under an Israeli genocide for over half a year.
The security services have broken up a number of non-violent sit-ins over the past few months, arrested a number of their participants, and made them sign pledges vowing not to take part in similar events again.
As international law guarantees people the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, dispersing peaceful sit-ins and apprehending their participants is against international standards. Repression or violence directed towards demonstrators is regarded as a violation of human rights.
The absence of a clear legal basis for the arrest of activists and participants in nonviolent sit-ins is a blatant violation of their rights, since the arrest must be made in accordance with international law’s procedural and legal safeguards.
Thus, the Jordanian authorities ought to respect international law and ensure the rights of protestors and activists, such as the freedom of speech, the right to peaceful assembly, and the freedom from violence, torture, or cruel or inhuman treatment while in detention. They should also hold those accountable for any violations of human rights and ensure that victims receive justice.
