Hundreds of Jordanian lawyers on Sunday took part in a sit-in and a march to protest the arrest the previous day of seven anti-Israeli activists, according to reports.
Hundreds of lawyers, including Islamists, staged the sit-in outside the Judicial Palace in downtown Amman and later joined a further 200 lawyers in a march on the parliament building less than one kilometer (half mile) away, according to AFP.
The protest was also in the headline news in Arab and international TV and radio stations.
A delegation led by Bar Association President Saleh Armuti met with parliament speaker Abdel Hadi Majali to voice their anger at the arrests and demand the immediate release of the activists, said the agency.
Majali told them parliament was urging the authorities "to deal with this case on a purely legal base.”
However, unconfirmed reports said that Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb was contacted in Davos, Switzerland, where is taking part in the World Economic Forum, by leading unionists and he promised them to release the detainees.
The issue was raised in the Lower House Meeting the same day, where the deputies’ opinions varied from opposition to full support of the government’s procedure, according to Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA).
Deputy Mohammad Ouran attacked the decision and asked why should Jordan make the arrests while Israel has never jailed an anti-peace citizen.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Zionism, Anti-Racism Society in Jordan has condemned the government’s crackdown on members of the committee of anti-normalization with Israel, which functions under the professional associations.
In a statement faxed on Sunday to Albawaba.com, the society called for the immediate release of the seven members arrested and called on “national figures” to stand behind the detained professionals.
“We condemn the arrest of the anti-normalization committee members, and the government’s abuse of public freedoms and clampdown on the civil society institutions,” said the statement.
The statement accused the authorities of pressuring people to accept normalization with Israel “by force,” describing the suppressive practices as a means to throw the people into a state of frustration so that they would stop their support for the Palestinian Intifada.
Jordanian police arrested the activists at dawn Saturday, five of them members of a committee campaigning against normal ties with Israel which published a blacklist of people dealing with the Jewish state.
The official news agency Petra said the seven had been arrested for belonging to "an organization that is illegal and unauthorized under the law," and a warrant had been issued for an eighth unionist, poet Ali Hattar, who was on a visit to Baghdad and is said to have left for Syria.
The committee chairman, Ali Abu Sukkar, a member of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, and his four colleagues were picked up at their homes by police, in the first such crackdown since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, against Israel four months ago.
"The government intends to apply the law and protect its citizens. It cannot tolerate that Jordanians should be intimidated for using their right to deal with a country which is linked to Jordan by a peace treaty," the official said, referring to Israel.
The high-ranking Jordanian official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the blacklist "is an indirect threat to all people who are included on it, and we cannot tolerate it."
Another official told AFP at least two people had received "anonymous threats," after their names were published on the list.
In a statement, the Muslim Brotherhood, the principal opposition group which enjoys the largest popular support, called for "the immediate release of the detained people and the end of violations of citizens' freedoms."
The Islamist movement alleged that police "mistreated" members of the anti-Israeli group and "planted explosive materials in the homes of certain (arrestees), including Abu Sukkar, before making them sign confessions.”
Jordan's professional associations council, which groups 14 professional and trade organizations with a total of 100,000 members, held a meeting Saturday to condemn the arrests and to confirm "its position hostile to normalization" with Israel, pharmacists' union leader Taher Shakhshir was quoted by AFP as telling reporters.
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Awad Khleifat had said in statements published Thursday that the publication of the blacklist "harms the Jordanian economy and reduces investment opportunities in the country.”
"The government will protect investments and investors and will not allow anyone to harm them," he was quoted as telling union leaders Wednesday.
The list, published in a newsletter called The Resistance, includes more than 20 companies working mainly in agriculture, a hotel and two private schools – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
