Cyber-dissident on trial

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières - RSF) protested today against the detention of former TV journalist and member of parliament Toujan el-Faisal and expressed concern at her current trial by the state security court in Amman on charges of damaging the reputation of the state and its officials abroad and incitement to crime and disorder. "It is unacceptable that she faces imprisonment just for having expressed her opinion on the Internet and we demand that all the charges be dropped and that she be freed at once," RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard said in a letter to justice minister Fares Nabulsi. "After attacking the written media, the authorities are now attacking the Internet." Since the beginning of this year, three journalists have been arrested and two weeklies have been censored. In an open letter that appeared on 6 March on the website of the Houston (Texas)-based Arab Times (www.arabtimes.com), Faisal accused Jordanian prime minister Ali Abu Ragheb of having profited financially from a government decision to double vehicle insurance rates. She was arrested on 16 March for allegedly damaging the reputation of the state. The state security court prosecutor freed her on bail on 27 March but she was arrested again two days later on the eve of a press conference she was about to hold at her home. Faisal, who was Jordan's first female member of parliament, is also accused of having insulted the country's legal system in an interview with the Qatari TV station Al-Jazeera in which she denounced the corruption of Jordan's courts. She faces up to three years in prison for this offence. During her court appearance on 13 May, court prosecutor Col. Mohammed Hijazi accused her of using media he said were known for their hostility towards Jordan to make false accusations that distorted the country's image. Her lawyers boycotted the hearing because the court refused to order the prime minister to testify. On 14 May, Faisal insisted she was innocent of the charges and demanded that the court end her "illegal detention." The trial verdict is expected on 16 May.