JORDAN: PARLIAMENTARY UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 008195 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL JO SUBJECT: JORDAN: PARLIAMENTARY UPDATE REF: A. AMMAN 7959 ¶B. AMMAN 7862 ¶C. AMMAN 7619 ¶D. AMMAN 7336 ¶E. AMMAN 6435 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Parliament is due to resume business on December 1. Security services continue to crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood clerics and politicians. End Summary. -------------- -------------- FALL SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, CABINET RESHUFFLE DELAYED -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a widely expected move (ref e),the palace issued a royal decree September 28 postponing the start of the upcoming regular session of Parliament from October 1 until December 1, the maximum delay permitted by Jordan's constitution. One MP told PolOff that a large majority of MPs welcomed the announcement due to their busy Ramadan social schedules, but admitted that the postponement could hamper progress on the substantial backlog of provisional laws awaiting parliamentary review. Parliament has been in recess since the end of its special summer session July 20. ¶3. (SBU) In addition to Ramadan, another likely factor behind the royal decree is the still pending Cabinet reshuffle (refs b, d). Most of post's contacts now indicate that a change in the ministerial line-up will not take place until the third or fourth week of October. Having Parliament in session during the reshuffle would give MPs critical of the GOJ a ready public platform to question new appointments and generate protracted debate. -------------- MPs ADVISE PATIENCE ON PRISON SCANDAL -------------- ¶4. (U) Members of the Public Freedoms Committee of the Lower House of Parliament paid a visit September 27 to Al-Juweideh prison to investigate the death of an inmate and alleged harsh conditions highlighted in a recent report by the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) (ref a). Jamal Dmour (East Banker, Karak-1st Dist.),head of the committee, publicly called for "patience" before jumping to conclusions and said that he had "full confidence in the judicial committee probing the case." Firebrand MP Ali Abu Al-Sukkar (Zarqa - 2nd Dist.) of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) told reporters that "facts on the ground prove that the (NCHR's) report is authentic." He also delivered a list of demands by prison inmates to General Tahsin Shurdum, director of the Public Security Department (PSD). -------------- POLICE "INVITE" IAF MP FOR QUESTIONING -------------- ¶5. (U) According to Arabic daily Al-Ghad, police "invited" well-known IAF MP Mohammad Abu Fares (West Banker, Amman-5th Dist.) on September 23 for questioning regarding allegations that he "attacked public officials and Arab regimes" during a rally. The head of the IAF bloc in Parliament, Azzam al-Huneidi (West Banker, Amman-1st Dist.),told Al-Ghad that Abu Fares refused to go with the police and contacted the Prosecutor-General and Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez, both of whom said they had not authorized any such "invitation." Abu Fares stated that his participation in the rally only called for "supporting Palestinian resistance as a first line in the defense of Jordan." The PM intervened to bring about a similar Interior Ministry climb-down in early September, when eight Muslim Brotherhood clerics were briefly detained for refusing to sign pledges to abstain from sermonizing on sensitive issues (ref c). ¶6. (U) Following a September 30 meeting with representatives of parliamentary blocs, the Jordan News Agency (Petra) quoted PM Fayez as stating that the government was open to constructive criticism, but not attacks on "the nation's principled stands." "Nobody is above the law and those who violate the law will be referred to courts," Fayez told deputies. In response to IAF complaints that its members were being unfairly treated, Fayez stressed that the Islamist movement in Jordan was an integral part of the political arena and that measures taken by the government against Islamists were not part of "deliberate targeting, but rather an implementation of the law." HALE