A leading human rights organisation has called on the government to close the remote Jafr prison, located in an isolated desert area nearly 256 km south of the capital, Amman.
"The prison is located in a far away and isolated location that is difficult to reach, and so the inmate loses the opportunity to contact his family," stated a report released this week by the state-financed National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), a quasi-governmental body. "The visits become a punishment also for their families due to the distance and cost of reaching [the prison]," stated the report, also noting that there was a perception among detainees that incarceration at Jafr was "an extra punishment."
Source: [IRIN]
The interesting bit about the report for me is that the concern came this time from a local human rights watch, something which might carry more weight in the eyes of Jordanians, as external pressure is hardly embraced in Jordan without scrutiny. And here is the official denial:
"Any allegations about beatings or torture are totally false, as there is no torture in Jordanian prisons," said police spokesman Maj Muhanad Shareida. "But some of the legitimate complaints in the report will be addressed by the appropriate authorities," he added.
Frankly, I find it hard to believe that torture does not exist in Jordanian prisons. Just last month the Washington Post revealed that some terrorism suspects held by the US are sent specifically to Jordan to be tortured. Oh well!
Our friend is actually ok, the guards gave him a bible to read in the water and he forgave them. Forgiveness is good medicine.
I haev a friend who spent six years in a Jordanian prison to keep her fam from killing her for getting pregnant before marriage. She said that there was lots of lesbianism going on, with guards of that bent giving favors to those who submitted to them.
Yea, US prisons are BAD places. You’d think the fear of going there, and facing a prison community, would be better incentive to keep teh law. Drug use hinders good judgement.
oh well? wow kinzi, see your friend endured something very terrible that may have an effect on the rest of his or her life.
these very actions might make people turn against their country and do terrible things. this must stop, and not just in Jordan but all over the world. i am sorry but when we torture our prisoners, what makes us better than them at this point.
this happens largely in many female prisons in the US as well, and the women being tortured are being raped by wardons, or other inmates raping other inmates.
It’s not really a lie, they just do the torture at another place, before the trial to get the confession to convict them, right? We had a friend who was falsely imprisoned, he was put naked in a tank of cold water up to his chin.