Cabinet not decided yet on pardon bill, forms taskforce

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday formed an ad hoc technical panel to study the general pardon bill suggestion  and make recommendations to the council.

The formation of the committee was the result of technical difficulties and the high number of criminal cases that are still being seen by the courts or are in the process of having their rulings inforced. The task force is assigned to identify the challenges and ways to address them. 

The committee is chaired by the secretary general of the Ministry of Justice and representatives from other concerned agencies, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The government was supposed to declare its position on the bill, which is requested by lawmakers and citizens, before October 1. The deadline was then extended to Wednesday, before the new panel was set up.

One of the issues, according to local media, is that MPs seek to include fines and traffic tickets due on citizens under the pardon law, a request facing resistance from the executive branch. 

Meanwhile, the Cabinet listened, on Wednesday, to a briefing by the Public Security Department (PSD) Director Maj. Gen. Fadel Hmoud, that included a vision to reduce the number of traffic accidents, held in the presence of a number of PSD's concerned figures.

For his part, the Prime Minister Omar Razzaz praised the efforts of the PSD and the Traffic Department, stressing the importance of conducting traffic awareness campaigns and introducing laws and regulations governing traffic that can help curb accidents.