JOURNALIST ACQUITTED OF SLANDER CHARGES

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000994

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KISL KDEM JO
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST ACQUITTED OF SLANDER CHARGES

REF: A. AMMAN 876

B. 08 AMMAN 3105

C. 07 AMMAN 2605

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) A Jordanian court acquitted journalist Khaled Mahadin
of slander charges on April 27. The case was brought against
Mahadin by parliament's secretary general over an online
article that included allegations of corruption by lower
house speaker Abdulhadi Al-Majali (Ref A). The Court of
First Instance judge dismissed the charges against Mahadin,
saying that his article did not meet the legal definition of
slander. In a statement, Mahadin called the ruling "a win
for all Jordanian journalists." Prominent Islamist lawyer
Saleh Al-Armouti, who defended Mahadin, said that the judge's
ruling was based on articles in Jordan's constitution which
guarantee "personal freedom" in spite of penal code articles
that allow prison sentences for journalists.


2. (U) The day after the verdict was announced, Majali
issued an administrative directive banning journalists from
the offices of the lower house secretariat and restricting
their access to individual members of parliament. Lower
house media advisor Hamdan Hajj told reporters that the
legislature would remain open to "committed press personnel."


3. (C) Comment: In November 2008, the King publicly stated
that detention of journalists should be "prohibited." His
comments were an attempt to acculturate government officials
to the ongoing process of expanding media freedoms which
started with changes to the Press and Publications Law in
2007, eliminating jail time for journalists (Ref C). Yet
loopholes in Jordan's penal code still allow journalists to
face jail time for certain crimes, slander being one of them.
The case against Mahadin did not address the substance of
his allegations of corruption against Majali. It was based
on the flimsier logic of an alleged "insult" against an
institution of government. The case points to the cultural
difference that still exists between members of Jordan's old
guard, who expect journalists to respectfully report official
statements without commentary, and journalists who are
increasingly bold in their testing of that red line.

Visit Embassy Amman's website at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
Beecroft