Cyber-dissident pardoned by King Abdullah

Imprisoned Jordanian cyber-dissident Toujan el-Faisal was pardoned on 26 June by King Abdullah, one day after the country's Chechen-Circassian community, to which she belongs, had appealed for her release on humanitarian grounds. She had been on hunger strike for 29 days. Faisal told the daily Jordan Times she was grateful to human rights organisations and activists who had pressed for her release. She said she planned to go to Syria to recuperate at the home of her cousin. She lost 16 kgs during her hunger strike. The pardon did not cancel the 18-month prison term she received on 29 May from the state security court for publishing allegedly false information abroad harming the reputation of the state and its officials. The conviction may prevent her from running in the next parliamentary elections. ______________________________________________________________ 11.06.2002 - Great concern about the health of Toujan el-Faisal Reporters Without Borders said today it was very concerned about the health of imprisoned Jordanian cyber-dissident Toujan El-Faisal, hospitalised several days ago as a result of a hunger strike, and called for her immediate release. "The Jordanian authorities will have a big responsibility if her health worsens because they fail to take her protest seriously and do not improve her conditions of detention," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. Noting that the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression said in a January 2000 report that imprisonment for peacefully expressing an opinion was a serious human rights violation, he urged Jordan to drop all charges against her.                       Faisal, who was Jordan's first-ever female member of parliament, has been in the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman since 9 June, suffering from severe dehydration due to a hunger strike she started at the beginning of the month to protest against her conditions of detention at the Jweidah Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre. Her brother Mohammed said she had lost a lot of weight and had kidney problems from dehydration. Faisal, who was arrested on 29 March, was sentenced to the maximum 18 months imprisonment by the state security court on 16 May for publishing allegedly false information abroad harming the reputation of the state and its officials. She was also accused of having insulted the country's legal system in an interview with the Qatari TV station Al-Jazeera in which she denounced the corruption of Jordan's courts. No appeal can be made against the state security court's decisions. In an open letter that appeared on the website of the Houston (Texas)-based Arab Times (www.arabtimes.com) on 6 March, Faisal accused Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb of having profited financially from a government decision to double vehicle insurance rates. Faisal appealed to the supreme court on 29 May to annul her conviction, on grounds that her constitutional and human rights were violated, notably because she was not allowed to summon witnesses, including the prime minister. Since the beginning of this year, three journalists have been arrested in Jordan and two weeklies censored.