Jordan National Movement

A national figure, Dr. Al-Abbadi was arrested on flimsy charges and was tried and imprisoned for exposing the regime’s undemocratic practices. Dr. Abbadi is now in precarious health and recently shared with his family that he has frequently been mistreated by his jailers.  In order to further punish and demoralize him, he was recently transferred to Al- Muwaqar prison where he is being held in incommunicado.

As justification for the arrest of Dr. Abbadi, the regime alleged that statements made by him had negatively affected Jordan’s image abroad and that he had shown contempt for national unity.

According to Dr. Al-Abbadi and many other concerned Jordanians, including the writer of this piece, the King and his authoritarian government have done a great deal of harm to Jordan by depriving the Jordanian people of the liberty, freedom and economic prosperity they deserve.  The only “crime” that Dr. Al-Abbadi committed was that he articulated this sentiment in a public forum. 

King Abdullah’s regime is inarguably one of the region's worst. It has wrecked Jordan ’s national economy by selling off the country’s national assets and has mismanaged the country’s economic policies, triggering economic chaos, which in turn has resulted in rising unemployment and inflation.  Thus, hundreds of thousands of Jordanians are forced to live in abject poverty.  

Furthermore, since Abdullah ascended to the throne, Jordan has been transformed into a vicious police state.  Security Services have been used to brutally smother what would otherwise be overwhelming opposition to the King’s disastrous domestic policies. 

Both Jordanian and international human rights organizations have confirmed more than one hundred reported cases of police abuse, and Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have corroborated and documented chilling accounts of torture in Jordanian prisons.

Jordan’s policy of placing its political prisoners in strict, long-term solitary confinement, which is one of the harshest practices that that King Abdullah introduced, was designed to silence and intimidate any viable opposition to this oppressive regime. Such practices are abusive to both the physical and mental health of prisoners.  Prisoners are forced into solitary confinement and are prevented from challenging this treatment.  This is a clear violation of international laws such as the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which requires that all persons in custody be treated humanely.  

It is clear that not only has the regime gone unchecked for years, but that it has been strengthened by foreign financial and political support. Like other autocrats with declining legitimacy, Abdullah is trying to do everything he possibly can to reinforce his grip on power.

Each year, the United States, Japan, and the European Community provide Abdullah’s regime with hundreds of millions of dollars in economic assistance. Certainly without these financial resources to support his corrupt policies, it is doubtful the King’s undemocratic regime could remain in power.

Dr Al-Abbadi’s political dream for Jordan is clear and articulate.  He is a proponent of a secular liberal democracy for his country.  His only dream is to live in a country whose government and its rulers embrace freedom, accountability and transparency.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Abbadi has been unfairly and unlawfully imprisoned for more than a year now.   If Washington and other Western democracies are truly committed to liberty, in deed as well as in word, they cannot allow such blatant acts of injustice to go unchallenged any longer.

   Dr. Al-Abbadi            Uday Saddam Hussein and King Abdullah II

Corruption becomes a significant obstacle to foreign investment when the whole network of illegal connections and backdoor payoffs gives unfair advantage to the local elite.  Corruption distorts decision-making, hurts competition, market efficiency, and economic development.  Studies show that corrupt procurement practices deter foreign investment while doubling the price that emerging countries pay for goods and services.  It is considerably more difficult to attract foreign companies to any corrupt country such as Jordan, where who you know is more important than what you can do.  The global economy offers corporations many options; so corruption is a factor in choosing where to invest.  Public opinion polls who took them and when were they taken indicate that corruption is one of the most explosive issues facing the royal family.  Jordanians have called corruption "a virus eating away at the regime”.

The royal court chieftains in Amman have built up client clans based on avaricious interests and family ties, putting protégés in key positions and keeping enemies out--no matter what their work experiences and the academic qualifications.  Beneficiaries have been sworn to secrecy.  King Abdullah II’s pernicious circles include close companions.  They cover transactions with equivocating and by backdating paperwork.  There is the appearance that everything is open and proper.  Everyone in the conspiracies or the illegal ventures keeps quiet so everyone will be just fine. 

Countries worldwide are attacking official corruption with renewed vigor; however, Jordanian corruption, in the form of bribery, influence-peddling, money laundering, and the like, is fully encouraged and  supported by King Abdullah II, and it has been on the rise in Jordan since he assumed his absolute and unaccountable power in February 1999.

This report highlights the most recent major corruption cases and human rights abuses in Jordan, based on solid evidence and documentation (please click on the hyperlinks for documentation, further evidence and information):

The Casino Project

Jordan is suffering a severe bout of inflation, created by the combination of rising incomes and an insufficient supply of consumer goods.  There is also a growing housing shortage and a general decline in the provision of social services.  Most ominously of all, Jordan’s $6.3 billion external debt is rapidly increasing.

Jordanian intellectuals have argued that Jordan is ill equipped to make the rapid leap in economic reforms that the King is taking now.  How, for instance, could a nation with an unemployment rate of more than 30 percent cope with the sudden giant increase in all essential consumer’s products such as gas, meat, wheat, eggs, dairy products, rice, and other necessary foodstuffs?  How would an economy already on the brink of collapse respond to such drastic shock therapy?  How could a good environment be established for foreign direct investment in our homeland, as a source of capital and technology, while the monarchy’s regime and its “Yes Sayehdna (Sir) Government” and Royal Court are practicing massive corruption and violating the rule of law on daily basis?

King Abdullah II is known in Jordan for his uncontrollable lust to gambling.  He has put his heavy, unchecked, and absolute power behind the Casino Project agreement signed with an Arab-British businessman a few months ago with the blessing of his unelected government. A government appointed by the King himself.  The terms of this project are very appalling, and proves the foolishness of this King and his criminal associates.  The project was eventually canceled, but the price of cancellation was very hefty: The handpicked government gave this businessman huge pieces of premium real state in selected and strategic areas in Jordan.  

King Abdullah II is well-known also for his stubbornness so he did not listen to his advisers.  One term, clause #26 of the agreement, stated that “the laws of the United Kingdom govern the operation of this Casino, not those of Jordan.” This is in direct violation of clause #33 of the Jordanian Constitution.  This clause prohibits signing of such an agreement without the stamp of approval of, and ratification by, the Jordanian Parliament.  In addition, clauses 909-915 of the Civil Law in Jordan prohibit gambling in the state.  Salamah Al-Dirawi, a respected economic analyst, described this project, “a crime committed against Jordan and its citizens”.

Selling Public-Owned Real-State and Corporations

Our beloved country is going to rack and ruin.  Many economic experts, local and foreign, continue to stress the fragility of Jordan’s economy, and the anxiety of its people. They fear that the adoption of quick and radical economic reforms is too much for the country to bear.

On the other hand, Jordanians are firm believers in gradual economic reforms, but they also stand strongly against the current scope of regulation, the sheer size of the public sector, and an absolute political system that provides so many opportunities for massive corruption, lawlessness, and human rights abuses.  Constitutional changes that would shift executive power from the King to an elected Prime Minister are also very vital and the hallmark of any genuine democratic system and free market economy.

Over that past few years, King Abdullah II started to grant himself huge pieces of government land, and sold these pieces to foreign investors in return for undisclosed mammoth commissions and kickbacks.  The selling process is managed by Bassem Ibrahim Al-Bahlwan, Chief of the Royal Court, whose father has been judged a convicted felon by the U.S. federal court system.  Other Ministers who have been appointed to the government by Al-Bahlwan are working hand in hand with him to contemplate these sweetheart business deals.  These officials have been granted, in honor, the membership of Jordan's Corruption Corporation (JCC), a Hashemite agency protected by the celebrity King Abdullah II. This means that corruption in Jordan has been institutionalized and a normal routine of business and day-to-day activities.

Jordanians are expressing shock at the level of greed that impelled King Abdullah II and his associates to hoard blood money in the name of encouraging foreign direct investment.  They disparage at the apparent collusion between the King and these governmental officials that fattened their secret bank accounts both inside and outside of Jordan at the expense and backs of poor Jordanians.

All types of purges in the public and private sectors must be undertaken immediately.  The health of Jordan’s future in the 21st century depends heavily on these much-needed reforms.  Jordan’s corruption still could take years to root out.  Yet Jordanians are no longer so naive and have never been spiteful.  Full respect of Jordanians’ civil rights must be kept in mind.  Physical abuses, suppressing dissenting voices and official harassment of political activists and journalists must be curbed.

Prison Crisis

Since King Abdullah II assumed his absolute and unaccountable power, extrajudicial killings rose, torture, and limits on freedom of expression continue to pose an intensive and serious plight.  The recent prison incidents in which three prisoners were killed at the hands of the Hashemite Al-Darak Forces (HDF) is one example of this absurd policy.  These prisoners were killed by gunshot wounds to their heads, after a tyrannical onslaught by these brutal forces.  What is worse, is that after the King gave the approval to these peremptory forces to attack these prisoners, he visited the Public Security Forces (PSF) headquarter in Amman pretending to search for what happened, an act which would then be hailed worldwide and advertised by the government-owned Press.  On the other hand, several other campaigns of lies are being conducted now by the same press to hide systemic oppression of the Jordanian people, particularly the opposition.

Dr. Al-Abbadi’s Case

What true Jordanians say in private about King Abdullah II has become bold, their criticism of the royal family increasingly sharp.  They are becoming more disdainful of the regime’s authority and more doubtful of its legitimacy.  No doubt, this has been caused by his foolish local and foreign policies.

Journalists and human rights activists worldwide have confirmed that the recent moves, which include lawsuits and contempt cases against opposition leaders, are among the harshest actions taken against freedom of expression in Jordan since the early 1980’s.

The civil trial of Dr. Al-Abbadi, former Member of Parliament (two terms) and Chairman of the Jordan National Movement, as described by Jordanian and International human rights activists and lawyers, is seen as a clear violation of Dr. Al-Abbadi’s basic human rights. The legal procedures, fabrications and demagogy of this trial testify to the fact that King Abdullah II and his brutal regime are adamant to kill Dr. Al-Abbadi in his prison cell. He is now in a solitary prison cell, and today Dr. Al-Abbadi started a hunger strike in protest for his ill-treatment by prison officials and security guards. On Sunday, June 15, 2008, his family was prohibited by prison authorities to visit him in Al-Muaqar prison. A few days ago, Dr. Al-Abbadi was transferred to Al-Muaqar, a maximum security prison designed for high-profile criminals. This decision was made by King Abdullah II and his co-ruler and wife (Dr.) Queen Rania Yassin. The Honorable Dr. Al-Abbadi is considered a crusader against the regime’s overwhelming corruption, lax management, and enormous human rights violations.

In Jordan, the King has total authority over the national judicial system, the Parliament, and both the media and the press. The potentate can change magistrates' judgments, close up newspapers, carry out martial law, appoint senators rather than having people elect them, form new governments with handpicked Ministers, free corrupt individuals, and change the constitution just by a phone call from his palace.

Instead of granting magistrates autonomy and independence, King Abdullah II intervenes in their rulings and does not allow them to investigate with the most scrupulous observance of the law. Confusing Jordanian citizenry firmly believe that the judiciary must not only be heard, but also be seen as above all parties and any form of compromise. The honorable Jordanians solidly believe that a democratic state cannot live without the deep and genuine confidence of its citizens in the justice system.

Jordan is going through its worst period of dictatorship. The entire nation is in tatters. The people of Jordan are in an unbearable economic situation.  We must find a way to rescue our beloved homeland and our brothers and sisters from the coming dismal fate of total debacle.

King Abdullah II must understand that the world knowledge of his regime’s abuses of human rights is undermining credibility of and respect for him.  It is absolutely mortifying and disgraceful to watch human rights abuses in Jordan.  Particularly, the disrespect for the rule of law and the denial of people’s fundamental public rights such as freedom of expression.

Harassing Journalists

Employing a mix of corruption, bribery and outright coercion, King Abdullah II’s regime has suppressed civil society and the judiciary.  With the repression of the press and the judiciary growing day after day, with the absence of any civil institution of social mobilization, with a bribed and rubber stamp Parliament, and with the added monopoly of radio and television at the behest of King Abdullah II, the morphology of the civil society, of which all the above institutions are crucial pillars, took a disturbing meaning.

The daily emergence of aggressive, independent news press in Jordan is invariably resented and combated by King Abdullah II’s security forces.  The newly won freedoms are fiercely resisted.  Criminal libel suits and massive civil claims are filed by royal court officials and their friends in an effort to frustrate coverage of corruption and human rights abuses.  In Jordan, intimidation is more direct.

Jordanian journalists are facing now more than ever-violent reprisals from King Abdullah II’s armed state security forces.  In Jordan, the good guys are winning, and their stories are getting out, and the bad guys are losing.  Independent Jordanian journalists are following up tips on arrests of opposition members and reporting critically on the regime’s actions.  They are trying to present the truth as they see it, which has begun to capture at least part of the populace’s imagination.  Unfettered reporting may not provoke King Abdullah II’s overthrow, but it is already serving as a catalyst for genuine change.

In recent years, King Abdullah II has become careless to international condemnation, but this has tarnished his image and reputation abroad.  Therefore, the King’s handpicked governments have resorted to all forms of coercion: Killing, physical and psychological torture, imposing draconian press laws, frequent detentions, threats of prolonged jail terms, internal banishment, and systematic impoverishment.

While special treatment, benefits and goodies, such as overseas trips and governmental postings, are given to journalists who give King Abdullah II favorable coverage, endless and on going infantile accusations and brutal actions are directed toward independent journalists and columnists. Personal cars of these journalists have been burned on the hands of King Abdullah II’s Special Forces.

Final Thoughts

It is increasingly clear that the rampant abuse of human rights and official corruption in Jordan, if left unchecked, can be a powerful drag on the nation’s economic growth.  It must be curtailed if Jordan is to thrive in the global economy of the 21^st century. Predicting the collapse of King

Abdullah II’s regime has been unpopular for recent years, but never more so than in the past months.  There have been recent signs of potential unrest at the top.  Certainly, the above evidence suggests such outcomes.

We urge foreign donors oversee their projects in Jordan directly and make it mandatory that the unelected government and its rubber stamp parliament work together to draft and ratify a legislation that gives the judiciary branch independent and unlimited legal power to investigate any case of corruption committed and conducted by any party or individual, including members of the royal family. For instance, scandalous revelations such as selling influence and taking graft to fund their parties and line their pockets particularly those corrupt princes, princesses, the royal family relatives and cronies who outnumber the taxi drivers in Jordan must be investigated fully and in public.  This bill should also provide for extradition of corrupt officials and urges transparency in hiring and procurement as well as pass laws against the "illicit enrichment" of government officials.

The biggest impediment to development in Jordan is deeply entrenched public and private sector corruption.  The United States, European Union, Japan and Germany must insist that its foreign aid packages to Jordan are contingent on tangible progress in attacking these problems at their root.  The United States Congress’ message must be clear: countries overcome by corruption will not longer be coddled, nor will aid constantly be available to repair just enough of the damage done by corruption to attract foreign investment. Creating, in effect, an infinite loop of looters begetting looters.

Jordanian citizens must also take to the streets to protest corrupt practices and human rights abuses, to elect anticorruption candidates and to impeach corrupt officials in the royal court--including the King and his family, who proved to be the most corrupt monarchy folk on earth, and other governmental comptrollers such as appointed premiers and cabinet ministers.

Cc:

Senator Barak Obama, U.S. Presidential Nominee (Via Chief of Staff)

Senator John McCain, U.S. Presidential Nominee (Via Chief of Staff)

Senator James Biden, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Via his Professional Staff)

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General

Members of U.S. Congress: Foreign Relations, International Relations and Appropriations Committees (Via Professional Staff)

European Union, Delegation of the European Commission to the United States
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Transparency International

U.S. and Worldwide Human Rights Organizations and Political Institutions 

U.S. and Jordanian Press and Media

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