Cyber-dissident jailed for 18 months

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières - RSF) expressed its "outrage" at today's sentencing of Jordanian former TV journalist and ex-member of parliament Toujan el-Faisal (see photo) to 18 months in prison for slandering state institutions and called for her to be freed at once. "We are outraged at this decision by the state security court (especially since no appeal is possible) and we cannot accept the imprisonment of someone for simply expressing an opinion on the Internet," said RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to King Abdullah II. "The few pockets of freedom in Jordan seem to be shrinking day by day," he added. Since the beginning of this year, three journalists have been arrested and two weeklies censored. Faisal, who was Jordan's first-ever female member of parliament and a former TV journalist, received the maximum sentence on four charges, including publishing "lies that hurt the state's integrity and honour," after accusing Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb of corruption. The court's presiding judge said she had made statements and published articles aimed at harming Jordan's image abroad and had "sown strife" inside Jordan. No appeal can be made against the state security court's decisions, but the king can commute or pardon convicted people. In an open letter that appeared on 6 March on the website of the Houston (Texas)-based Arab Times (www.arabtimes.com), Faisal accused the prime minister of having profited financially from a government decision to double vehicle insurance rates. She was arrested on 16 March for allegedly damaging the reputation of the state. The state security court prosecutor freed her on bail on 27 March but she was arrested again two days later on the eve of a press conference she was about to hold at her home.