‘Syndicate following up on Jordanian journalist’s arrest in Dubai’

AMMAN — The Jordan Press Association (JPA) said Saturday it was following up on the detention of journalist Tayseer Al Najjar in Dubai.

JPA President Tareq Momani said the syndicate received information that the journalist was detained at the airport in Dubai as he was heading back to Amman recently, and has sent an official letter to the UAE Journalists Association to follow up on the issue.

“We have not received a response yet from the UAE association, and we are exerting our utmost efforts in this regard to check on his situation and identify his whereabouts,” Momani told The Jordan Times.

“The JPA also contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Amman, which pledged to look into the issue,” Momani said.

In a post on his Facebook timeline over the weekend, journalist Walid Husni said Najjar, a member of the JPA and the Jordan Writers Association, was detained on December 13 last year in Dubai.

The detained journalist was not allowed to contact his family, Husni said, citing Najjar’s wife.

Najjar’s family tried to contact the authorities in Dubai several times but to no avail, said Husni.

The detained journalist covers cultural news and has published several studies and research papers.