Automated system to regulate court-ordered detentions

AMMAN — Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni on Monday announced a new automated system designed to monitor and minimise detention periods.

“The new system aims at monitoring detention periods of individuals, their numbers and their legal status to prevent the detention of persons who should be released after serving their time or those who should not be detained to begin with,” the minister said.

This, Talhouni told reporters, “will regulate the work of criminal prosecutors and courts and ensure that no one is detained for a felony that does not entail detention”.

Introducing this system is part of 2008 Karama project, implemented jointly by the Ministry of Justice, the Danish ministry of foreign affairs and the Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims of Denmark.

The project entails improving the treatment and condition of detainees and combating torture and other forms of inhumane treatment.

The new system lists 5,031 crimes and misdemeanours instead of 303, according to Judge Mustafa Assaf.

“We have examined each and every offence and decided to expand their description and specify certain detention periods,” Assaf explained.

The system will “prevent the criminal prosecutor from extending the detention period if the offence in question does not entail more prison time”.

“A red icon will appear on the computer screen of the criminal prosecutor, preventing him or her from renewing the detention period in such cases,” Assaf added.

The system will also issue similar warnings to judges who want to schedule new court hearings for individuals who are being tried in other courts.

“This will prevent judges from assigning trials for offenders on the same date and will help save time and effort by law enforcement officers,” he noted.

Attorney General Judge Ziad Dmour said the new system will allow him to monitor the work of the courts and criminal prosecutors more closely.

“The system will show me if anyone is detained improperly or has exceeded his/her detention period,” Dmour added.

This will “make me legally accountable before the public to ensure that no one is detained an extra day without a reason”, he noted.

According to Assaf, the system will start operating on a trial basis in one of Amman’s courts next Sunday, and once “we determine it has no flaws, it will operate in the Kingdom’s various courts”.