AMMAN — The
Lower House on Monday voted and
approved the Legal Committee recommendation to freeze MP Hassan Al-Riyati’s membership
for a period of two years.
اضافة اعلان
Riyati was present under the dome during the
legislative session to consider constitutional amendments, and the decisions of
the Legal Committee regarding the MPs’ quarrel.
MP Mohammad Al-Khalayleh, who said that what
happened under the dome was reported by all local and international media
because it degenerated into “insults and clashes”, said that the decision to
freeze his colleague’s membership is consistent to the House’s statute.
He called the decision fair and said “we must
respect the decision of the
Legal Committee so that chaos does not spread”, adding
that “all deputies are bound by the statute”, and thus comply with it.
MP Zaid Al-Otoum said the penalty imposed on
Riyati was “harsh”, considering that a two-year membership freeze is a long
period, and stressed that while he agreed that there should be a penalty, he
would have preferred one that is “commensurate with the act”.
Otoum added: “Riyati should have apologized to
his fellow deputies and to the Jordanian people for what happened, yet today he
is justifying what happened and has put himself in an awkward position.”
While an “overwhelming” majority of deputies
supported the decision to freeze the deputy’s membership, Otum said that he
voted against it for the technical reason that it was not read in full, “and
this is what made the matter unacceptable to me”.
Riyati said that the committee’s decision was
“inaccurate, and did a great injustice to me”.
“For example, there were deputies who insulted
the Divine Entity and insulted others, walked on the tables, and insulted the
House, and no action was taken against them,” he said, adding that during the
secret session, the decision was not fully read out, as is usually the case,
and “they did not allow us to defend ourselves”.
“The committee pointed out the violations of my
colleagues, and described them as marginal acts, but no decision was taken
regarding them,” Riyati said.
“Making the session secret made me very upset,
as I hoped that the people would see it, because the people’s opinions matter
to me, and I, in turn, thank the people for their feelings towards me,” he
said, adding: “I only seek justice from God.”
Riyati also claimed that “the decision was the
result of me being a member of the Islamist Islah bloc; had I been from another
bloc, nothing would have happened, and it would have been business as usual”.
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