Jordan’s Court of Cassation has upheld the ruling issued by the State Security Court against four detainees accused of supporting the Palestinian resistance: Ibrahim Jabr, Hudhaifa Jabr, Khaled Al Majdalawi and Ahmad Ayesh. The court affirmed a sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment with temporary hard labour, in a decision that constitutes a stark infringement of fundamental rights and legally guaranteed freedoms.
The brothers Ibrahim and Hudhaifa Jabr were arrested on 13 May 2023 on charges of transporting weapons from the city of Mafraq to the town of Huwara in support of the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Khaled Al Majdalawi and Ahmad Ayesh denied the accusations brought against them, maintaining that their activities were humanitarian and relief based, aimed at assisting those affected in Gaza and supporting students in need.
In a dangerous escalation, the detainees’ families reported that their sons were subjected last month to a sudden campaign of repression inside Jweideh Prison. The measures reportedly included smashing their personal electrical cooking appliances, throwing their clothes and belongings into the rubbish, destroying their beds, and directing insults and shouting at them in front of criminal inmates in a degrading manner.
Such practices amount to a direct violation of international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees every detainee the right to human dignity and prohibits torture and cruel or degrading treatment. The Jordanian Constitution and the Law on Reform and Rehabilitation Centres likewise guarantee prisoners the right to food, clothing and shelter, as well as the right to a safe environment that preserves their dignity.
Imposing lengthy and disproportionate sentences on the basis of humanitarian or logistical activities, while employing repression within prisons, represents a dual breach of criminal justice principles and human rights standards. It transforms trials into instruments of political punishment rather than mechanisms for safeguarding the rule of law and fundamental rights.
The issuance of a 20 year prison sentence in this context reflects a grave miscarriage of justice. Supporting the Palestinian resistance, in the context of confronting occupation, cannot be construed as a criminal act. Punishing individuals on that basis constitutes a clear violation of internationally and nationally protected rights and freedoms, and risks reducing the judiciary to a political instrument that undermines justice and erodes citizens’ dignity.
