You are here

Senate approves amendments to Penal Code

By JT - Dec 24,2017 - Last updated at Dec 24,2017

AMMAN — The Senate on Sunday endorsed amendments to the Penal Code as referred from the Lower House, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The draft law intensifies penalties of crimes against the public authority and comes in line with Jordan’s ratification of the 1984 UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

The agreement defines “torture” as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions”.

Under the 2007 amendments, a prison term ranging between one and three years will be imposed on persons convicted of torture or temporary hard labour if the torture causes injury or sickness.

The Senate also endorsed a law amending the Military Housing Fund Law 2017 as referred from the Lower House, which increased the military housing loans from JD10,000 to JD15,000.

Also during the session, the Upper House endorsed the draft law for legal cooperation in criminal cases between Jordan and Brazil for the year 2017, and an agreement on the extradition of convicts and legal cooperation with Australia.

up
81 users have voted.


Newsletter

Get top stories and blog posts emailed to you each day.

PDF