Jordanian journalist detained by UAE returns home

AMMAN — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriats Spokesperson Sufian Qudah on Tuesday said that the Jordanian journalist Tayseer Najjar has been released. 

Najjar had been detained by Emirati authorities in 2015 and charged with violating the country’s cybercrime law over Facebook comments criticising the UAE, among other countries, over the 2014 Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Qudah expressed his thanks and appreciation to the UAE for releasing Najjar and exempting him from fines, in appreciation of the close ties between the two fraternal countries.

Later on Tuesday afternoon, the Jordan Press Association (JPA) President Rakan Saaideh received Najjar at Queen Alia International Airport.

Najjar was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 dirhams (around JD96,000) after he posted Facebook comments deemed “insulting to the United Arab Emirates”, according to the court verdict.

In September 2017, the JPA sent a letter to the Jordanian government asking for its help in securing a pardon for and the release of the journalist, Saaideh told The Jordan Times in February 2018.

The Jordanian Ministry of Justice had contacted Emirati officials to issue a request to allow him to serve the rest of his sentence in Jordan, according to Saaideh.

The UAE court had also ordered that Najjar’s social media accounts be shut down and his equipment confiscated by authorities. 

Article 29 of the UAE’s cybercrime law criminalises the online publication of information they deem “sarcastic or damaging to the reputation, prestige or stature of the state or... any of its symbols”.

Najjar’s detention drew condemnation from international rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.