The Jordanian Regime’s Hostility toward Free Speech: Mr. Salah Momani is a Recent Example
January 16th, 2010The Internet has become a powerful international tool for freedom of speech. It enables users anywhere in the world to foster debate and provide a forum to express different points of view. In doing so, the ability of internet users to transcend international boundaries and bypass most government censorship efforts and restrictions on internet use has helped keep the general public better informed and governments more accountable and transparent for the decisions they make. Yet today, online journalists and writers increasingly are coming under attack by repressive regimes trying to block the free flow of information in cyberspace.
When it comes to some monarchies, especially in the Middle East, all reason and self-restraint are abrogated, according to a Jordanian writer in a Reporters Without Borders report on free expression in Jordan. He was commenting on the multiple charges of “lese majeste” injury or insult to King Abdullah – which were brought against a Jordanian writer. In Jordan, speaking negatively or critically about the king is viewed as a serious crime – tantamount to endangering national security.
Lese majeste differs from outright censorship in that it is often presented as libel, or as a personal offense against a head of State, rather than as a pure free speech matter. It is often used to silence those who express an inconvenient truth that sheds a negative light on the regime and its undemocratic practices (i.e., exposing corruption or criticizing unpopular decisions). Under such antiquated laws, regular citizens as well as writers and bloggers can be prosecuted for this “crime”.
Many monarchs or heads of state – with their self-serving belief in a regent’s “divine right to rule” – have traditionally had a hard time dealing with criticism. Some manage to ignore it, others ensure that journalists employ self-censorship through bribes and intimidation, but still others like the king of Jordan crack down on any criticism, using brutal, repressive forms of coercion to stifle dissent (Mr. Ahmed Al-Tamimi and Mr. Yasser Abu Hlalah are examples of this criminal, barbaric and reprehensible behavior).
Relying on a mix of indicators such as detentions, regulations, and intimidation to crush any peaceful and generally loyal opposition, the Jordanian regime has now emerged as one of the leading online and print media oppressors in the Middle East. This is evidenced by the outright and clear violation of the fundamental principles put forward by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to measure a society’s tolerance of free speech; these principles include but are not limited to: governments’ use of filtering, monitoring, and regulation (Arab Times newspaper and its online version is an example); authorities’ use of imprisonments; and other forms of legal harassment to deter critical journalistic writing (Mr. Ahmed Al-Abbadi is another example).
In the face of this intimidation, more and more Jordanians are exercising their God-given rights by turning to cyber activism to fight for human rights and freedom of expression in their country. The new forms of communication opened up by these opportunities have proven to be an immensely powerful tool for those citizens marginalized by the regime – the powerless and voiceless citizens of our society.
I am using this preface to shed light on the recent decision by the Jordanian regime to silence one of its online “constructive” critics. Mr. Salah Momani is a citizen journalist and a founder of an online magazine called “Arabissues.net”. He is also a regular writer and commentator on various Arab websites who has dedicated a large part of his personal time to advance an open dialogue dealing with Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, democracy, interfaith and human rights.
Mr. Momani has recently been forced to make a very difficult, soul-searching decision to shut down his online opinion shop so he can receive a royal “clemency” and consequently can be taken off the Jordanian government and its intelligence services’ blacklist; this quid-pro-quo will allow him and his children the regime-granted “privilege” to visit his native country.
Mr. Momani had recently decided that his American-born kids should establish ties with their father’s homeland. However, he was told by Jordanian security services that he would not be permitted to enter Jordan to live or visit unless he petitioned the government for forgiveness for his purported “crimes”. Mr. Momani has been informed by friends and relatives that he will remain in the Jordanian security services’ blacklist as long as he refuses to renounce his political views pertaining to Jordan and its repressive government. Mr. Momani’s only transgression – as defined by the Jordanian government – was the sponsorship of a website in the United States (Detroit, Michigan) which was perceived by the Jordanian authorities to be hostile to the Jordanian regime.
Mr. Momani had already paid a very high price for his principled independence, when the Jordanian regime placed him on its blacklist which resulted in an indefinite self-imposed travel ban to visit his old and ailing mother. So this time around, he felt that the price of his conscientious stand, which would force him and his family to cut ties with his beloved native land, was too high to pay, so he is reluctantly considering a compromise with his principles, and capitulate to the regime’s demands. It is my fervent hope that he would not!
The Jordanian authorities have dictated that in order for Mr. Momani to be removed from its blacklisted individual database, he has to stop his online critique of Jordanian political issues. which alas, he has done (http://arabissues.net/), stop writing negatively and disparagingly about Jordan and its ruling elite – especially its corrupt and sycophantic politicians – and not engage in any activities that could be perceived as hostile (however defined) to his “majesty’s government”?.
The irony of this egregious capitulation was that Mr. Momani never attacked the “the monarchy” itself, but merely criticized the regime’s political and governance practices, which he correctly described as autocratic. Also, there has been no attempt by him to cast any doubt on the legitimacy of the regime or the King; Mr. Momani merely contented himself with cataloguing and documenting what he felt were some of the regime’s undemocratic excesses.
The decision by the Jordanian authorities to blackmail Mr. Momani whether directly or indirectly clearly shows the political and moral bankruptcy of the Jordanian regime. Here is a man of principle, with great affection and concern for his native country, who ran a website which was open to a diverse collection of views that allowed participants to engage in a wide-ranging intellectual dialogue about freedom, human rights, art, and poetry as well as community issues. Surely he is the kind of opposition figure that Jordan needs and not one who deserves the indignities of being censored and harassed.
Over the years, as part of its’ efforts to silence its critics, (i.e., reformers, bloggers and independent writers), the Jordanian regime has enacted publication and press laws that grant authorities sweeping powers to jail and fine journalists and writers and to shut down publications that violate a host of vaguely defined statutes, whose interpretation is a right reserved solely for government censors and its security services.
As a reaction to these dictatorial measures, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed grave concerns about the Jordanian regime’s gangster mentality in its approach towards independent writers and journalists. The organization has rightly and unequivocally criticized the Jordanian regime’s overt hostility toward independent writers, a policy which the CPJ has considered to constitute a serious threat to freedom of speech– one which violates the right to free expression guaranteed under international law.
I agree with the CPJ’s position and I believe that these attempts to silence Mr. Momani also constitute flagrant violations of the most fundamental rights to free expression guaranteed under international law such as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted by all civilized democracies, which underscores this basic principle.
For those of us fighting for human rights and freedom in Jordan and around the world, the opportunities offered by cyberspace are strengthening our outreach strategies and enabling us to pursue our hopes and dreams for a better future. While our efforts are not entirely beyond the reach of government censors and their security services, they are still influential enough to inspire, help and contribute to positive changes in Jordan and other countries which are beset with dictatorship and corruption.
Therefore, I call upon concerned freedom of expression activists, and the online community users (bloggers and human rights activists) to come together and establish a coherent effort to defend the rights of Salah Momani and others who have committed themselves to peaceful reforms of oppressive regimes like the one presently ruling in Amman.
We the public also must speak out regarding the mindless, repressive idiocy promulgated by the regime and its propagandists as well as the Monarchy’s self-proclaimed supporters in Jordan and elsewhere. Namely: The constant lies and deception spread about reform advocates! The horrible and explicitly inhumane treatment of dissent toward critics! This behavior must not be tolerated in a supposedly free society that claims to be a member of the civilized, democratic family of nations.
Free Jordanians and their human right allies and advocates should rise up and protest this appalling behavior by this undemocratic regime. They must make every effort to advance peaceful democratic reforms that will benefit ALL Jordanians, not just those citizens who approve of and benefit from the regime’s undemocratic excesses.
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By definition, autocratic rule requires a stifling of dissent. If you concentrate political power in the hands of a few, then criticism cannot be allowed, because it can easily be used to de-ligitimize the ruling authority of the few.
If, however, you diffuse the power to rule among the many, with checks and balances between various sources of political power, as is the case in a true democracy, then criticism of a leader will be tolerated to a greater extent, because that leader does not hold all the reigns of power, and his power is checked by others. Any attempt to stifle dissent would be challenged by competing sources of political power.
So what we’re really talking about here is not just freedom of expression, but rather freedom itself as envisioned in a truely democratic state. Is the Middle East ready for that? And what would it take to pull it off?
[...] Awen Al-Meshagbeh, writing for Mideast Youth, gives an example of the Jordanian governments’ treatment of an online writer, Mr. Salah Momani. Al-Meshagbeh has this to say about the governments’ various methods of censorship: [...]