I’ve been following the situation of IAF’s deputy Jamil Abu Baker who was recently charged with â??insulting the dignity of the stateâ? by posting article on the IAF website which criticised the former government for appointing 30 people to high government positions without having the necessary qualifications. Nepotism is a killer in Jordan.
Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh told the Associated Press the charges were dropped but that’s about all he said on the matter.
Describing the government’s decision as â??the right thing to do,â? Abu Baker said, â??what is important that the government does not repeat this action anymore.â?Â
â??Taking me to court was unjust. What the government did was an infringement of freedom of expression,â? he added. [source]
Evidently the government recieved some criticism of its own concerning this matter, from its two least favorite peoples in the world: the press and the Muslim Brotherhood. When both those elements start agreeing with each other then you know someone must’ve screwed up somewhere.
I think this was a real shot in the foot for the government to raise such ludicrous charges. To go after someone for being part of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing new in Jordan, but combine that with his excercise of free speech on the internet, and add to that the fact that they were only criticising nepotism which the King himself has vowed to crush…well it’s quite the political faux pas.
I’m relieved he wasn’t charged. From the fact that the charges were simply dropped without a word makes me wonder if Jamil was simply being made an example of; a warning shot? Or perhaps the orders came directly from the King who just found out about it.
Who knows. Maybe reason did prevail at the end of the day (probably not).
It was not a good way to start the new year with regards to Jordan’s political reform, or lack there of.
lol I can see you’re losing faith too, a sign of aging? 😀
Good for him, hopefully he will not give up after what happened (I’m being too optimistic, I know)
It’s things like this that make you lose hope in this country ever living up to its pormises for freedom of expression. I hope nobody still takes the “Freedom Square” rumor seriously.
We should at least try to be proud that they did the right thing in the end and that it didn’t take them too long to do so.
I see it as an improvement. Hopefully, no government in Jordan will ever think of filing such charges again in the future.