US embassy cable - 04AMMAN8195

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 008195 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KISL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: PARLIAMENTARY UPDATE 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 7959 
 
     B. AMMAN 7862 
     C. AMMAN 7619 
     D. AMMAN 7336 
     E. AMMAN 6435 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (U) Parliament is due to resume business on December 1. 
Security services continue to crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood 
clerics and politicians.  End Summary. 
 
 
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FALL SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, CABINET RESHUFFLE DELAYED 
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2.  (SBU) In a widely expected move (ref e), the palace 
issued a royal decree September 28 postponing the start of 
the upcoming regular session of Parliament from October 1 
until December 1, the maximum delay permitted by Jordan's 
constitution.  One MP told PolOff that a large majority of 
MPs welcomed the announcement due to their busy Ramadan 
social schedules, but admitted that the postponement could 
hamper progress on the substantial backlog of provisional 
laws awaiting parliamentary review.  Parliament has been in 
recess since the end of its special summer session July 20. 
 
3.  (SBU) In addition to Ramadan, another likely factor 
behind the royal decree is the still pending Cabinet 
reshuffle (refs b, d).  Most of post's contacts now indicate 
that a change in the ministerial line-up will not take place 
until the third or fourth week of October.  Having Parliament 
in session during the reshuffle would give MPs critical of 
the GOJ a ready public platform to question new appointments 
and generate protracted debate. 
 
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MPs ADVISE PATIENCE ON PRISON SCANDAL 
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4.  (U) Members of the Public Freedoms Committee of the Lower 
House of Parliament paid a visit September 27 to Al-Juweideh 
prison to investigate the death of an inmate and alleged 
harsh conditions highlighted in a recent report by the 
National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) (ref a).  Jamal Dmour 
(East Banker, Karak-1st Dist.), head of the committee, 
publicly called for "patience" before jumping to conclusions 
and said that he had "full confidence in the judicial 
committee probing the case."  Firebrand MP Ali Abu Al-Sukkar 
(Zarqa - 2nd Dist.) of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) told 
reporters that "facts on the ground prove that the (NCHR's) 
report is authentic."  He also delivered a list of demands by 
prison inmates to General Tahsin Shurdum, director of the 
Public Security Department (PSD). 
 
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POLICE "INVITE" IAF MP FOR QUESTIONING 
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5.  (U) According to Arabic daily Al-Ghad, police "invited" 
well-known IAF MP Mohammad Abu Fares (West Banker, Amman-5th 
Dist.) on September 23 for questioning regarding allegations 
that he "attacked public officials and Arab regimes" during a 
rally.  The head of the IAF bloc in Parliament, Azzam 
al-Huneidi (West Banker, Amman-1st Dist.), told Al-Ghad that 
Abu Fares refused to go with the police and contacted the 
Prosecutor-General and Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez, both 
of whom said they had not authorized any such "invitation." 
Abu Fares stated that his participation in the rally only 
called for "supporting Palestinian resistance as a first line 
in the defense of Jordan."  The PM intervened to bring about 
a similar Interior Ministry climb-down in early September, 
when eight Muslim Brotherhood clerics were briefly detained 
for refusing to sign pledges to abstain from sermonizing on 
sensitive issues (ref c). 
 
6.  (U) Following a September 30 meeting with representatives 
of parliamentary blocs, the Jordan News Agency (Petra) quoted 
PM Fayez as stating that the government was open to 
constructive criticism, but not attacks on "the nation's 
principled stands."  "Nobody is above the law and those who 
violate the law will be referred to courts," Fayez told 
deputies.  In response to IAF complaints that its members 
were being unfairly treated, Fayez stressed that the Islamist 
movement in Jordan was an integral part of the political 
arena and that measures taken by the government against 
Islamists were not part of "deliberate targeting, but rather 
an implementation of the law." 
HALE