BACKGROUND ON DETENTION OF PROFESSIONAL

UNCLAS AMMAN 000686 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM IS JO SUBJECT: BACKGROUND ON DETENTION OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBER ALI HATTAR REF: A. AMMAN 571 ¶B. 04 AMMAN 4629 ¶C. 04 AMMAN 6771 ¶D. 04 AMMAN 8868 ¶E. 04 AMMAN 7619 ¶F. 04 AMMAN 9437 ¶G. 03 AMMAN 6119 ¶H. 03 AMMAN 7268 ¶I. 03 AMMAN 8321 ¶1. (SBU) Background on the detention of Jordanian Ali Hattar by GOJ authorities follows. ¶2. (U) After delivering a lecture on December 14, 2004 at the professional associations headquarters in Amman, Hattar was detained and charged with violating Article 191 of the Penal Code for "slandering the government." Hattar's lecture was entitled "Why We Boycott America" and reportedly criticized U.S. foreign policy. The incident received widespread local press coverage. Reports vary as to whether he was held overnight or for three days. It is unclear how Hattar is alleged to have defamed the government, or which of Hattar's purported statements led to his detention. He had criticized the government under former Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb, which left office in October 2003, for being oppressive. Hattar has denied the charges and court proceedings are ongoing. ¶3. (U) Hattar is a member of the Jordan Engineers Association and the Professional Associations Council's Anti-Normalization Committee, which organized the lecture. The Anti-Normalization Committee opposes the Jordan-Israel peace treaty. A Jordanian court recently ruled that the Committee's campaigns against the treaty and its blacklisting of Jordanians that allegedly had contacts or dealings with Israel constituted political activities (reftels). Ref A reported Hattar's case in the context of the ongoing struggle between the government, spearheaded by Interior Minister Habashneh, and the professional associations. ¶4. (SBU) The detention of Hattar is included in the current draft of the 2004 Human Rights Report on Jordan. HALE