Comments on: Jordanian Intelligence Deports Rights Activist

By: Naseem Tarawnah

Naseem Tarawnah — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:45:04 +0000

almashkalgy: i respect your right to hold that point of view as i would expect you to respect my right to mine. while we both disagree vastly on what’s happening behind the scenes, we both should also be aware that our points of view are speculative at best and depend almost entirely on observations. such observations depend on our respective interpretation of events, and that is something which is entirely subjective and will differ from person to person.

i no more expect you to believe what i believe than you should expect the same from me.

the difference between us however is that while i acknowledge this speculative aspect, you drive your opinion home as fact, which leads you down that slippery, condescending slope of “i am enlightened and all of you are in the dark”.

let’s acknowledge that we are all in that same darkness, searching for a light switch.

thanks.

By: Almashkalgy

Almashkalgy — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:30:40 +0000

“His Majesty King Abdullah made a few highly-publicized assurances regarding free speech in Jordan…”
Com on Nassem you just can;t keep going around telling us that that king wants freedom of speech ,while his security apparatus going around defying his order ,you got to be more aware of what’s going on, you guys must understand that these orders has cone from him,personally
Do you guys remember the Fiasco with Ghassan Ben Jedo from Aljazeera when Gassan interviewed his uncle criticised Saudi Arabia ,the films were confiscated at Airport ,do you guys remember that?

By: The Observer

The Observer — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:23:57 +0000

Can’t he mentions names of the intelligence officials who treated him that way? Maybe it is time to start highlighting the names of the offenders of freedom of expressions, just to know who is the enemy.

By: Najwa

Najwa — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:15:37 +0000

Jordan’s oafish state security has caused more harm to Jordan’s image abroad than any other source. It seems hose who claim to protect Jordan are protecting themselves and harming Jordan and Jordanians.

By: omar

omar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:34:14 +0000

I agree with you Naseem, it’s definitely something to put us to shame yet I suppose what’s been promised by HM King Abdullah was mainly regarding the legal prosecution or rather the imprisonment of journalists or those who choose to practice freedom of Speech.

But still definitely a faux-pas…

By: Naseem Tarawnah

Naseem Tarawnah — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:11:51 +0000

While this story is pretty much one-sided right now (although I expect the Jordanian government to deny it ever happened), it would remain tragically ironic for such a thing to have taken place only three weeks after His Majesty King Abdullah made a few highly-publicized assurances regarding free speech in Jordan…

I wonder if such assurances were granted only to Jordanians and not foreigners who may have a critical opinion of the Kingdom…

or maybe it was perceived as such…

But then again, even this specific story doesn’t seem to have been widely-reported in local media, if at all (I haven’t seen it personally)…

In any case, it is a shame, and if the details turn out to be accurate then it means Jordanian security forces have tarnished the image of Jordan, and yes, even made the King look a bit hypocritical on the world stage.

Now I’m wondering what the fallout will be, if any. The lesson learned here should be that one of the worst things a state can do is attack someone who buys ink by the barrel.