Release of journalist Fahd Al-Rimawi

Editor of the weekly Al-Majd newspaper, Fahd Al-Rimawi, imprisoned on 10 May 2004 on a charge of damaging relations with Saudi Arabia, was released late on 11 May after about 36 hours in detention. State Prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi also lifted a ban on the newspaper following intervention by the Prime Minister Faisal Fayez, said Tariq Mumeni, chairman of the journalists‚ organisation that was involved in mediation. The journalist has however agreed to publish an article in the next issue that will clearly praise relations between Jordan and Saudi Arabia and correct the negative effects of the editorial. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.05.2004 - Reporters Without Borders urges release of newspaper editor Reporters Without Borders has condemned a Jordanian legal decision to detain Fahd Al-Rimawi, editor of the bi-monthly Al-Majd, for two weeks for infringing Article 118 of the criminal code by "harming relations with a brotherly country", namely Saudi Arabia. The international press freedom organisation called for his immediate release and termed his arrest a "serious press freedom violation." The state prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi decided on 10 May 2004, to have Al-Rimawi held in the Al-Juedia prison in the south of the country, pending his appearance before the state security court for "harming relations with a brotherly Arab country". The journalist is at risk of a jail sentence of up to five years in prison. The newspaper was also suspended as of 10 May under instructions of state prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi. The daily Al-Arab Al-Yom said that police questioned Al-Rimawi for several hours on 9 May at the Queen Alia Airport on his return from a visit to the United States. The following day he was summoned by the state prosecutor Mohannad Hijazi and immediately imprisoned. In a 3 May editorial in Al-Majd headlined, "Cowardice as policy", Al-Rimawi accused the Saudi authorities of behaving like "lackeys of the United States". Government spokesperson Asma Khodor, said in a press statement that the offending article, "damaged relations with a brotherly country", stressing that the journalist "should in carrying out his profession respect certain professional ethics and take the national interest into account." Recalling that three Jordanian journalists were imprisoned by the State Security Court in 2003, Reporters Without Borders accused the courts of "once again trampling on the principle of press freedom." "This stance is intended to intimidate the entire profession so that the Jordanian press, which already largely self-censors, will not cross the red lines drawn by the government," it said. According to a poll carried by the Jordanian press on the 14th World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2004, most Jordanian journalists believed that there were obstacles to press freedom in their country. The Jordanian press freedom centre polled 80 journalists chosen at random, representing 15 % of the profession and working for dailies, weeklies or the official news agency Petra. The same poll showed that 65.3 % of those questioned "doubted the independence" of the Jordanian press and believed that the government intervened in press coverage.