US embassy cable - 02AMMAN2228

UNCLAS AMMAN 002228 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR GARY PETERS, JUSTICE FOR OPDAT, TREASURY FOR OTA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC, KCRM, KTIA, PREL, PTER, JO 
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO REQUEST ON COUNTERRORISM LEGISLATION 
SEMINARS 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 51937 B. AMMAN 5049-01 
 
1. (U) In response to Ref A, Post has queried and received a 
positive response from the FonMin's office on the GOJ's 
interest in attending counterterrorism legislation seminars 
in Washington.  The GOJ is one of our strongest partners in 
the war on terrorism and we believe the opportunity to 
further develop their legislative tools on key 
counterterrorism issues would be invaluable.  Post has 
identified the following areas in which we believe the GOJ 
would benefit from training: terrorist financing, border 
control and immigration, export and import controls, and 
investigative and prosecution tools for counterterrorism 
offenses. 
 
2. (U) The following answers are keyed to Ref A questions on 
the GOJ's legal system: 
 
A. The GOJ legal system is an amalgam of several legal models 
reflecting the influences of colonial and regional powers 
prominent in the last century.  It is essentially a 
code-based legal system that derives its normative and 
procedural structure primarily from Egyptian codes, which 
themselves were based on the French tradition and models of 
the 19th and 20th centuries. The GOJ legal system also 
incorporates Shari'a (Islamic law) and some aspects of 
European law.  For example, during the Ottoman period, 
aspects of French commercial law and civil and criminal 
procedures were adopted.  English common law was introduced 
in the West Bank between 1917 and 1948, and was introduced in 
the East Bank during the years 1921-1946, when the East Bank 
comprised the British Mandate of Transjordan. 
 
B. Yes, codified in the penal code. 
 
C. Yes, per Ref B, the GOJ in October 2001 passed a series of 
amendments to its penal code that broadly define terrorism 
and punishments for terrorism-related crimes. 
 
D. Yes, as a condition of the FY 2001 cash transfer program, 
the U.S. required the GOJ to draft statutes on money 
laundering.  The GOJ statutes are based on the "forty 
recommendations"--the general framework of the Financial 
Action Task Force of the OECD. 
 
E. Yes, conditional on the approval of the Prosecutor 
General.  If approval has not been given, evidence garnered 
from such operations will not be allowed to be presented in 
court. 
 
G. Yes, conditional on the approval of the Prosecutor 
General.  If approval is not given, evidence garnered from 
such surveillance cannot be presented in court. 
BERRY