Pardon bill endorsed by Parliament, ready for ratification

AMMAN — The general pardon bill was passed by the Senate on Tuesday as referred by the Lower House, and is awaiting His Majesty King Abdullah’s ratification to be published in the Official Gazette to go into effect.

When the law goes into effect, all those detained or convicted for crimes pardoned in the law will be released upon an order from the general prosecutor's office, while the bill leaves it to the court to decide on crimes that are still being examined.

Under the law, full exemptions from fines, penalties and disciplinary measures will be granted to crimes and violations committed before His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to the government to issue the law, on December 12, 2018. 

The two Houses of Parliament reached consensus on the list of crimes to be pardoned after deputies endorsed senators’ amendments to exclude attacks on public employees and crimes related to the Water and Electricity Law from the bill, as well as conditions for pardoning residency violations.

As worded by lawmakers, acts of defamation, slander and contempt stipulated in the Cybercrime Law, violations to residency and foreigner affairs and the labour laws, fines for breaches related to the income, sales and customs laws in addition to traffic violation fines and drug-related crimes, with a number of exceptions, will also be pardoned regardless of whether victims’ personal rights are waived or not.

Among crimes that would be excluded from the general pardon were those related to state security, forming or joining illegal organisations and espionage, in addition to espionage, economic crimes, graft, rape, terrorism and violations of the duties of public office.

The general pardon law, as per the King’s directives, is aimed at “entrenching the concept of tolerance and forgiveness, enhancing social security, easing hardship and pressures faced by citizens, giving convicts and wrongdoers a second chance to correct their conduct and encouraging them to play their natural role and ensure their permanent integration in society”.