AMMAN — Women-rights advocates are declaring “full support” for female activists who
were arrested for taking part in rallies.
The
Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) issued a statement on Saturday declaring its full backing for school teacher
Rida Al-Farran and her colleagues Insherah Sandouqa, Saba Mahdawi, Nuwwar
Mahdawi, and Hanan Al-Dabsheh, stressing that the Constitution guarantees
citizens the right to rally peacefully and to hold unionist activities.
اضافة اعلان
“We assert that the measures taken against teacher
and unionist Rida Al-Farran, as reported, violate her constitutional rights, as
a Jordanian citizen, and the norms and values of the Jordanian society,” said
the statement, adding that “this comes at a time when it is claimed that we are
a state that supports women’s right to take part in political action”.
The JNCW stressed that women’s participation in
political life is restricted to “symbolic representation in elected and appointed
bodies”, adding that “there are still some practices that decide for women
where and how they can engage in political life”.
“Active political participation cannot take roots
without protecting the right to all forms of expression and to peaceful civil
and unionist action. We affirm our rejection of the humiliating way and the
breach of privacy that this teacher and citizen was exposed to when she was
arrested, which violates the laws and procedures in force, and does not defend
the dignity of women in the country,” the statement further said.
It also stressed that “what happened is a form of
political violence against women, and all measures that have been taken must be
reviewed to ensure that they are not repeated, to protect women’s right to
political action as guaranteed by the Constitution”.
The JNCW said it will ask the competent authorities
to “conduct the necessary investigation and ensure that such practices do not
recur”.
According to Farran, on March 29 she was awakened
from her sleep at 8am by a knock at the door. Electricity had been cut off and
the building manager informed her that the electricity company had disconnected
it — despite her having paid all the bills — and that someone from the
electricity company wanted to talk to her.
What happened is a form of political violence against women, and all measures that have been taken must be reviewed to ensure that they are not repeated...
“I went out of the house to talk to him, but did not
find anyone, and as I turned to go back to the house, a group got out of a
car.”
Informed that there was an arrest warrant for her,
she asked to be allowed to inform her family, change her clothes, and fetch the
medicines she needs as a cancer patient. Initially they refused, but then
agreed. Still, the agents refused to show her the arrest warrant, telling her
that she would see it at the police station, where she was kept until 3pm. She
was then moved to a police department concerned with implementing court orders
in East Amman.
“They gave me my phone at 4:30am, to assure my
brother that I was fine. At 6pm, orders came to release me without guarantee or
bail.”
Farran was suspended from work in 2018 because of
her political activism, she said, adding that her arrest happened because
authorities thought she would participate in a demonstration planned for
Tuesday.
“The arrest was a
message to Jordanians that they could be arrested for things they might be
thinking of doing, at a time when the official rhetoric urges partisan and
individual participation in public life,” she said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner-General of the
NationalCenter for Human Rights (NCHR) Alaa Al-Armouti denounced the arrest, stressing
that the center is in the process of investigating the issue before issuing a
statement.
“The NCHR’s position on restrictions of freedoms,
including of assembly and expression, and of those of trade unions, is
well-known, and these are violations of rights and freedoms, in contravention
of local and international covenants,” he said, adding that the security forces
act “excessively, to an extent that we are not accustomed to, against both men
and women”, that they violate the sanctities of homes “at unjustified levels”,
and that their acts intend to “silence”.
Teacher Sandouqa said that on Tuesday she went to
the teachers’ protest in front of the
Ministry of Education, “and there were
only two teachers there, amid a heavy security presence”. She said she
“appeared in a live video through my Facebook page to emphasize the teachers’
demands and rights, and in the meantime I was arrested and they took me to the
Sweileh Security Center where I remained until after 9pm, then I was released
and went home, to Irbid”.
She called her arrest “kidnapping”, and stressed
that she will continue to try to get back to work the 120 colleagues who were
forced to get early retirement or were suspended, and “are now without
salaries”.
Sandouqa stressed that “freedoms are suppressed despite
the fact that the Constitution calls for the opposite”, adding that “these
circumstances create an environment of fear”.
She said that for two years she has been penalized
one way or another, by not receiving the annual increase or having three days deducted
from her salary when she left before the end of school hours to join the
protests.
Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate spokesperson
Noureddine Nadim said that “the arrests of teachers are surprising in our
society; we are not used to having women arrested in this unnecessary way”,
adding that “the arrest procedures will have to be investigated, especially
that women in our society have their status and must be dealt with in a
different way”.
“As a syndicate, we asked for an investigation to
find out who is responsible, and ask that the respect and dignity of teachers,
of Jordanian citizens, be restored,” he added.
Nadim stressed that no specific charges were brought
for these arrests that were, rather, “a precautionary arrest to prevent any
illegal gathering”, stressing that “these teachers did not announce their
participation in the protest”.
He said that some policies need to be reconsidered
because they “affect” the social values.
According to Nadim, 70 teachers were either
suspended from work or forced into early retirement, which prompted a group of
teachers to protest on March 29, asking that they be allowed to return to
work.
Minister of State for Media Affairs Faisal Al-Shboul was
unavailable for a comment to Jordan News.
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