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AMMAN — The Kazakh embassy is providing a venue for its nationals in the Kingdom to participate in the upcoming early presidential elections slated for April 26, Kazakh Ambassador Azamat Berdibay said Wednesday.

The embassy said it will have a polling station open from 8am to 8pm.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev recently signed a decree for early presidential elections.

Stressing the distinguished ties between Jordan and Kazakhstan, Berdibay told reporters that regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections work on developing and strengthening ties between the two countries will continue.

AMMAN — The Public Security Department (PSD) on Wednesday warned the public against buying drugs via social media networks, reminding people not to take any medication unlicensed by Jordan Food and Drug Administration and the Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times, the PSD media office said the Rangers monitored a page on social media promoting unlicensed weight loss pills and banned e-cigarettes, adding that one of the administrators of the page has been arrested.

KUWAIT — Awqaf Minister Hayel Dawood on Wednesday said the issue of visiting Jerusalem was among the topics discussed at a conference held this week by the International Islamic Fiqh (jurisprudence) Academy, stressing the importance of visiting Jerusalem to support Arab Jerusalemites and confront Israeli plans to Judaise the city.

Several Jordanian clerics participated in the conference, which was held in Kuwait, and discussed various topics, including challenges faced by Islam.

Dawood conveyed His Majesty King Abdullah’s greetings to Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who received conference participants.

AMMAN — Since 2011, the capital has been the location of one of the largest annual photography festivals in the Middle East. 

The Image Festival, as it is called, is hosted by Darat Al Tasweer in collaboration with Institut Français and the Greater Amman Municipality. 

This year, the festival, slated for April, is set to showcase the first all-female photo collective in the Middle East, Rawiya. 

Due to the death of pilot Muath Kasasbeh as well as other recent events, Darat Al Tasweer has decided to make this year’s festival smaller and more focused on education, according to its founder, Linda Khoury. 

However, the festival’s move to showcase an all-female photo collective comes with a positive change for women photographers in the region, according to women photojournalists.

In recent years, women journalists worldwide have found themselves victims of abuse and discrimination in their field. 

A 2013 study by the International Women’s Media Foundation found that two out of three female journalists had “experienced intimidation, threats or abuse in relation to their work”.  

In this study, 5.37 per cent of the participants came from Arab nations. 

Despite this finding, many female photographers in the Middle East say they feel comfortable continuing with their work on a daily basis.

In fact, Reem Faisal, a photojournalist based out of Saudi Arabia, disputed the notion that being a woman has created disadvantages in her field. 

“Whether I was male or female, each has advantages and disadvantages,” she said. 

Laura Boushnak, a freelance photographer and founding member of Rawiya, agreed with Faisal, noting that there are many advantages to being a female photographer. 

“Men and women photojournalists face a lot of different difficulties,” she said. “Being a woman makes it easier for me to access women’s stories in a way my male colleges could not.” 

Jennifer Ciochon, a photographer for Tunisia Live, has had a similar experience.
Ciochon, who has worked in many countries throughout the region, recalls one instance in which she photographed a child bride in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. 

“I was given that access because I was a woman,” she said. “The fact that we can get rather intimate access is rewarding and is quite a privilege.”

Boushnak said she uses the unbridled access given to female photographers as means of giving a local perspective into the Middle East. 

The idea of showing life in the Middle East through a local eye is the basis of why the Rawiya photo collective was founded, she said. 

Since 2009, Boushnak has been working on a project on literacy and education of women in the Arab world after learning from a UN report that 50 per cent of Arab women cannot read or write. 

She recently gave a TED Talk on the subject, titled “For these women, reading is a daring act.”

“The Arab states are going through tremendous change, and the struggles women face are overwhelming,” she said in the TED Talk.

“Just like the women I photographed, I had to overcome many barriers to becoming the photographer I am today, many people along the way telling me what I can and cannot do.”

Ala Hamdan, a photographer based in Amman, said she has also witnessed the role of women in Arab states beginning to change in recent years, particularly in artistic arenas. 

“A few years ago girls were rarely seen in the faculty of fine arts [at the University of Jordan] and now they are everywhere and they are really good at what they do,” she said. “In a few years we are going to have a revolution of artistic girls; before it was shame and now people are going after what they love.” 

Hamdan, who grew up in and works in Jordan, said she teaches photography to girls as a means of empowering them to gain independence and follow their own aspirations. 

“We still live in a conservative environment… I’ve seen so many passionate girls and very limited access,” she noted. “I want women to know that they have the right to seek the life that they want, without being attached to culture and tradition.” 

While Hamdan feels she is lucky to have grown up with very supportive parents, parents are one of the obstacles she faces when encouraging girls to participate in her photography workshops. 

“I feel blessed that I come from an open minded father, who is also a sheikh,” she said.  

“He doesn’t think culture is the limit. But that is not the case for a lot of girls.” 

Ciochon agreed, noting that despite the advantages female photographers see, there can still be negative pressure from the society she is working in. 

“While I haven’t received any problems, I do get some stares from men... As in, ‘Why is this girl travelling by herself? Shouldn’t she have a husband?’”

Hamdan said she pushes girls to break down the cultural boundaries they face by proving their talent and drive to their parents. 

“I always tell girls to show their photos to their parents,” she said. 

“Once people see girls they know, their own daughters, involved, they start to break down the stereotype that girls and cameras don’t go together.” 

AMMAN — The Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance project (Red-Dead) poses environmental, political and social threats to Jordan, an environment specialist said this week.

Speaking at a seminar on Tuesday, Sufian Al Tal said the Red-Dead project could lead to a rise in earthquake activity in the region with water flow increasing and the transformation of the Dead Sea into a “living” sea as a result of marine life being transmitted into it.

The project, which also involves Palestine, seeks to provide Jordan with its water needs at reasonable prices, while at the same time prevent further shrinking of the Dead Sea.

Jordan signed an agreement with Israel in February on the first phase of the project’s implementation. 

Water Minister Hazem Nasser said at the time that a “true” adherence to the agreement would secure 30 million cubic metres (mcm) of freshwater for Palestine to cover its water deficit.

Stressing that the project is an “innovative” solution to desalinate sea water, the minister noted that 300mcm of water will be pumped each year under the first phase.

In its following phases, the Red-Dead project entails annually transferring up to 2 billion cubic metres of sea water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

A total of 85-100mcm of water will be desalinated annually, while seawater will be pumped from an intake located in the north of the Gulf of Aqaba, according to the minister.

Tal claimed that the project is “a fully Zionist scheme” that “primarily benefits the Zionist entity”.

He said chemical pollution caused by the mix of sulphate and calcium from each sea will eventually create a white milky layer above seawater, in turn obstructing the process of extracting salts from the sea.

Changes in sea levels will also result in surrounding properties and lands being immersed in water, leading to displacement in both the occupied Palestinian territories and Jordan, he added.

Also speaking at the seminar, organised by the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Mohammad Abu Taha, head of the Jordan Engineers Association’s water commission, claimed the project will be “an environmental disaster which will take years to produce results and... very costly”.

Highlighting the project’s effect on water quality, Abu Taha said it will “ruin the Dead Sea as mixing two types of water will create a variety of problems such as the formation of algae”.

For his part, session moderator and member of the IAF’s executive office, Khader Bani Khaled, underlined the importance of the Dead Sea on historical and tourist levels as well as its proximity to Jordan’s most prominent heritage attractions, which he said will be threatened by the canal.

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday said they were investigating the death of two newborns whose bodies were found in a dumpster in an Amman neighbourhood late Tuesday night.

A boy searching for scrap metal in a dumpster near Prince Hamzah Hospital found a dead infant wrapped in a blanket and placed in a box and alerted authorities, Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi said.

When coroners and investigators arrived at the scene to examine the body and collect evidence they found a second infant also wrapped in a blanket and placed in a box, he added.

Coroners estimated that the baby boys were between hours and a few days old, according to the police official.

“We suspect that the two infants are twins but we referred their bodies to Prince Hamzah Hospital for autopsy,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Crime lab experts took blood and tissue samples from the bodies for further analysis and DNA testing, he added.

An official at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine refused to reveal the outcome of the autopsy.

“I cannot reveal any information about the autopsy results because the investigation is ongoing,” the official told The Jordan Times.

A study released in late 2009 on the reasons behind the abandonment of newborn children in the country indicated that the issue has not reached the level of a phenomenon.

The study said one reason for the occurrence is the low religious deterrence level in society due to changes in values, which were affected by development and openness to other communities with liberal values.

In addition, most of the cases reported in Jordan involved guest workers, the study said.

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Wednesday refuted the Jordan Housing Developers Association’s (JHDA) claims that its lengthy procedures in issuing licences are causing losses in the real estate sector.

Administrative procedures in issuing licences do not take more than 12 days, including project assessment and referral to local or district committees to ensure the transaction’s conformity with the Cities and Villages Law and the building codes by-law, according to Imad Hiyari, deputy city director for planning affairs.

JHDA President Kamal Awamleh told the Jordan Times on Monday that GAM’s procedures in issuing licences for housing companies take five to six months, and issuing construction permits needs another six months.

But Hiyari said any delays are due to disputes or failure to meet standards.

“Project owners sometimes violate licence terms and neighbours file complaints against them, which results in disputes where owners have to rectify their status,” Hiyari told The Jordan Times.

He added that committee decisions to grant licences take set-up infrastructure into consideration such as sewage networks, electricity grids and street widths at project locations.

Awamleh said companies usually make a 15 per cent profit in selling their apartments, but with these “slow procedures” it takes them two years, instead of one, to sell their products.

Hiyari stressed that a building licence transaction that meets terms and conditions receives the approval of local committees within 12 days, noting that 80 to 85 per cent of transactions are approved.

 “The remaining transactions are referred to district committees, since local panels are not authorised to look into them, or due to an objection by project owners on local committees’ decisions,” Hiyari said, adding that such matters take time to be settled.

Therefore, he noted, it is better for project owners to ensure their transactions do not have violations, as having correct transactions reduces the time needed to complete them. 

“Some investors are talking about a slowdown in demand on apartments, so the municipality is not responsible for the decline in purchase of property,” the GAM official pointed out. 

AMMAN — Traffic violations in areas where the Greater Amman Municipality has installed new cameras have significantly decreased, a GAM official said Wednesday. 

Mohammad Faouri, director of joint management at GAM, told The Jordan Times over the phone that the goal behind setting up the camera units has been achieved.

Citing the Abu Nseir area, Faouri said violations decreased to 38 since the cameras began operating earlier this month, compared to 108 recorded the month before. 

The GAM official did not provide further details about the total number of violations.

In previous remarks to The Jordan Times, Ayman Smadi, executive director of GAM’s transport and traffic department, said the 22 new cameras registered 3,400 traffic violations on the first day.

Five of the cameras are installed at traffic lights, seven are fixed radar units and the rest are mobile radar units that can be placed on cars.

The cameras have been set up on the Mukhaddarat traffic light on Abu Baker Siddiq Street, the Ersal traffic light at Al Quds intersection, the Maslakh (slaughterhouse) traffic light on Jaish Street and two at the Queen Zein Al Sharaf intersection in Sweifieh.

But a lawyer says the cameras “invade people’s privacy” and has filed a lawsuit against the Central Traffic Department and GAM.

Tariq Abu Raghib said having these cameras take photos of people inside their cars is in violation of the Constitution. 

“Now we are waiting for the decision of the prosecutor general,” he told The Jordan Times. 

Abu Raghib said he is not against having the cameras in principle because they contribute to regulating traffic, but they should not invade privacy.

AMMAN — With Jordanians changing their mobile phones every two years and around 2 million new mobiles being bought annually, thousands of discarded handsets become environmental and public health hazards, officials said on Wednesday.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Environment and Orange Jordan on Wednesday, the latter will collect unwanted mobile phones to ensure a safe and environment-friendly disposal or recycling of the devices.

Environment Minister Taher Shakhshir said the memo is part of the country’s measures to achieve better management of its electronic waste, particularly mobile phones.

Shakhshir noted that the draft environment protection law features new articles that regulate the electronic waste sector.

More than 10 per cent of the annually purchased mobiles are discarded, Orange Jordan CEO Jean-François Thomas said, highlighting that cell phones and especially their batteries, contain elements that can damage the environment as well as elements that can be extracted or recycled.

“We are signing this agreement because we want to better manage our company’s electronic waste including the safe management of mobile phone waste in collaboration with the ministry,” Thomas noted. 

He added that the company has launched a buy-back campaign, under which owners of old handsets can sell their devices to Orange shops, which will give them vouchers for buying new devices.

The old mobile phones will either be refurbished and sold if they still function properly, or disposed of with the help of the ministry, according to Thomas.

“We will also launch an awareness campaign to explain to people the dangers of storing mobile phones and how they can use specific channels to… dispose of the devices, especially the batteries,” he noted.

The improper disposal or processing of electronic waste causes serious health and pollution problems, as some electronic scrap components contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury and brominated flame retardants, according to web sources.

Environment experts believe that the absence of sound electronic waste management threatens the environment and public health.

Earlier this month, the Greater Amman Municipality distributed 88 containers to the headquarters of its 22 districts to enable residents to dispose of their unwanted electronic devices.

The containers are designated for the disposal of TVs and computer monitors, dry batteries, light bulbs and mobiles, according to the municipality.

AMMAN — Terrorism in the region is Jordan’s major security challenge that can only be defied through a strong internal front, former prime minister Faisal Fayez said on Wednesday.

Fayez, the first deputy Senate president, highlighted the Kingdom’s openness to the international community and its ability to build coalitions with neighbours and allies as key to dealing with several possible developments in the region. 

As the current regional situation “does not forecast a bright future for the Arab and Muslim nation”, Jordanians must sustain a strong social fabric against all types of extremism, he said at a lecture at the University of Jordan.    

“Jordan has been able to overcome all hardships and crises due to its wise leadership as well as Jordanians’ faith in their country and security bodies,” Fayez added, noting that the Kingdom’s ability to maintain its stability has won it international recognition and admiration.

The senator, also a former Lower House speaker, said Jordan’s “humane and dignified” treatment of refugees is appreciated by enemies before friends, noting that the Kingdom hosts some 1.5 million Syrians despite its limited resources and economic challenges.  

“It is our fate in this country to continuously face challenges and crises due to our geopolitical location,” he said, adding that Jordan’s pluralism, and respect of freedoms and opinions has spared it from dealing with the “so-called Arab Spring”.

Yet, economic challenges remain at the heart of challenges to development.

Fayez called for a more just distribution of resources across the Kingdom, stressing the need to end poverty, especially among young people to protect them from falling prey to terrorism and extremism.

“Challenges should not hinder us from building and developing Jordan, as Jordan is known for turning challenges into opportunities,” he said, noting that the Royal roadmap for reform, embodied in several legislative amendments, is gradual.

The former Royal Court chief underscored the need for a “logical and comprehensive” discourse that promotes an “enlightened dialogue” to be adopted by educational and religious institutions as well as media outlets to fight terrorist discourse.