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

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) Parliament is due to resume business on December 1.
Security services continue to crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood
clerics and politicians. End Summary.


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FALL SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, CABINET RESHUFFLE DELAYED
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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.

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MPs ADVISE PATIENCE ON PRISON SCANDAL
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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).

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POLICE "INVITE" IAF MP FOR QUESTIONING
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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