JORDAN: Jordanian police take journalists on tour of prison to refute torture reports

Jordanian prison authorities took local and international journalists a tour of Swaqa prison to refute reports of widespread torture and other human rights violations in Jordanian prisons and "rehabilitation centres," or penitentiaries. International human rights watchdogs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have recently stepped up accusations of torture and beatings inside Jordan's prisons. The authorities took the journalists to workshops in the penitentiary in the Swaqa prison complex, saying they wanted to show the journalists the conditions under which the inmates lived and worked. The Jordanian government has been repeatedly under fire from local and international human rights organisations, which have reported various violations committed against detainees including arbitrary arrest, jailing without formal charges and systematic torture and extracting confessions under duress. Prisoners did not comment during the journalists' tour on whether they had been subjected to torture or other forms of abuse in prison, but Saleh Khader, an inmate at Swaqa prison, claims he has been detained for eight months despite a court ruling to release him. "I have been here since 2006 until now, for eight months, and they have no reason for detaining me. People are detained for a week or two, I have been here for eight months because of a fight. I went to court and the judge told me to leave but the (town mayor) brought me back," he said. Another inmate claimed evidence against him was fabricated. "They charged me with seven cases of armed robbery and they signed my name for me. I do not know whether I signed or they did because all I remember is I was in a car accident, and I am not involved with any of these issues," inmate Raed Abdul Qader said. There are over 7,000 detainees held in Jordan's 10 prison and penitentiary complexes and authorities deny that any human rights violations take place within them. "There is no torture in prisons at all. The situation is as follows: if an inmate creates a certain problem there might be a rebellion in the prison, which leads us to inforce law and order. There are cases of mutiny in the prison, there can be rebellion by an inmate, or a mistake by an overseer. Any problem that happens in the jail is investigated," Khaled Saedat, deputy head of public security in Jordan said. Over the past two years, prisons in Jordan have seen a number of protests and riots by political and security prisoners against poor living conditions and claims of ill treatment. Recent reports by the U.N, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reveal that torture is most commonly used in the General Intelligence Department and top security prisons, especially to extract confessions from political and security detainees, and not in prisons such as Swaqa, which houses those already convicted, especially of criminal charges. According to the U.N report released in January, methods used in Jordan include beatings with truncheons, batons, electrical cables and broom handles, burning detainees with cigarettes and forcing them to hold painful positions for long periods. Humiliating treatment and insults were also common, the report said. "The information that appears in international reports, reports which rely on information given by families of inmates and the inmates themselves who were present (in the Jordanian General Intelligence Department where many political prisoners are questioned) -- and I cannot use the word 'inmate' (which implies lawful detention) because we do not know how they were detained -- but according to people who were there, there is torture and it is widespread (in the General Intelligence Department)," said Abeer al-Kara, member of the Arab Human Rights foundation. Human rights groups say that in most cases, once a prisoner reaches prisons such as Swaqa, the torture process is already over. The main problem in such prisons is overcrowding and harsh day-to-day living conditions, al-Kara said. "How can we talk about rehabilitation when prisons are over crowded, when there is unfair distribution of beds, food and drink, even academic and rehabilitative courses," al-Kara said. Police authorities say they plan to spend more than 30 million U.S. dollars to ease overcrowding in the country's prisons and penitentiaries.

ITN Source | March 28, 2007

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