Husband, wife handed prison terms for attacking teachers in Aqaba

AMMAN — Marking a judicial precedent, a First Instance Court on Wednesday sentenced two assailants of teachers to prison terms, according to the Jordan Teachers Association (JTA).

Judge Bassam Khawaldeh of the Aqaba Court of First Instance made the "unprecedented" ruling against a man and his wife who attacked two female teachers last year.

According to the teachers' lawyer, Atef Maaytah, who took on the case pro bono, a student of Salma Bint Omar Primary Coeducational School in Aqaba went home charging that his teacher hit him.

"The student wanted to leave the school before classes were over and his teacher prevented him, so he made those claims," the lawyer told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

The following day, the student's parents came to school asking to meet the teacher in question.

"The wife then entered the teachers' assembly room and slapped the teacher on her face without prior notice. She then attacked another teacher, who was pregnant at the time, when she intervened to defend her colleague," Maaytah added.

He noted that the husband remained outside the room, but kept inciting his wife against the teacher and urging her to "grab her by her hair and bring her to him".

"The teachers filed a complaint, which at first was handled by the Magistrate Court, which I rejected because it is a case of a public employee being attacked while on duty," said the lawyer, who managed to argue the case as a crime, bringing it to the First Instance Court.

Wednesday's verdict, which is "the first of its kind in the history of Jordan", also included the teachers' acquittal from a "malicious complaint" the parents filed against them.

The husband was sentenced to eight months in jail for incitement and the wife to one-year imprisonment for attacking the teachers.

The verdict can be appealed.

“I took a decision to defend any teacher who is subjected to harm or humiliation in Aqaba for free. I cannot stand seeing educators held in low esteem,” Maaytah said.

JTA Spokesperson Ayman Okour commended the “unprecedented” verdict, saying that it will “make people think twice before attacking teachers”.

“We did not want things to go this far. We have always hoped for the relationship between teachers and the local community to be more respectful, but the number and nature of attacks on educators have reached a dangerous point,” he noted.

The JTA has registered 90 attacks against teachers so far this year.

Attacks on teachers are continuing even after the Cabinet approved amendments to the Penal Code earlier this month that stiffen penalties against those who assault educators and medical personnel.

The amended law, which was referred to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, stipulates no less than a one-year prison term for those who attack teachers, faculty members at colleges and universities, nurses and doctors while they are on duty. 

The punishment also applies if the educators or healthcare workers are attacked for an action or decision they have taken in their professional capacity.

Earlier this month, Education Ministry Spokesperson Walid Jallad said the ministry has filed 60 lawsuits against teachers’ assailants, and the minister has tasked the legal division with following up on all assaults.

He added that the ministry will not drop charges against the assailants even if the targeted educators decide to do so.