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Legal experts discuss administrative detention

By Maria Weldali - Mar 16,2023 - Last updated at Mar 16,2023

AMMAN — Jordanian NGO, Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights, on Wednesday organised a dialogue session on administrative detention and its controls in accordance with the Crime Prevention Law.

During the dialogue session, which was mainly attended by legal advisors, government officials, civil society organisations and international organisations, Director of Tamkeen Linda Kalash said: “For many years now administrative detention in many instances was used other than for the purpose for which it is obtained.”

Speaking during the first session, government coordinator for Human Rights at the Prime Ministry, Nathir Awamleh, pointed out that the Crime Prevention Law does not interfere with the Jordanian Constitution, and if there are defects in some legal practices, it does not mean that the law is unconstitutional.

Mentioning international humanitarian law and human rights law and standards, Awamleh said that the aim of this law is to protect individual rights, in addition to acting as a deterrent for crime.

Awamleh also talked about the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HCR) aimed to improve the state of human rights. Jordan is now in the process of preparing for the report, and recommendations are currently being developed, he explained.

Among the speakers was the Dean of the Law School at the University of Petra, who revealed that administrative detention should only occur under specific controls and in specific situations that are deemed to be a threat to public interest. 

“There has been an abuse of authority and the goals were not to maintain social peace,” the dean added.
There is an abuse of discretionary authority granted to the administrative governor, the former chair of the parliamentary legal committee, Mustafa Yaghi, noted during the session. He added that the Crime Prevention Law should be applied while taking into consideration the appropriate procedures to trigger the law.

From another governmental point of view, representative of the Ministry of the Interior, Abdel Karim Abu Dalu, said that the Crime Prevention Law “is of great importance” as it helps maintain security and stability, adding that the law is not “broad or applied capriciously in Jordan.”

 

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