US embassy cable - 03AMMAN5012

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005012 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ECON, SOCI, JO 
SUBJECT: LOWER HOUSE TRYING TO ROLL BACK ON WOMEN'S 
ISSUES...BUT FACE PROCEDURAL OBSTACLES AND NEGATIVE 
BACKLASH FROM PRESS 
 
REF: AMMAN 4894 
 
Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (U) The Lower House of Parliament voted on August 3 to 
reject two of the 211 temporary laws passed since Parliament 
was disbanded two years ago and sent another 86 temporary 
laws to special committees for further examination.  The laws 
in question--which deal with marriage/divorce and honor crime 
punishments--next have to be reviewed by the Senate, which is 
likely to effectively freeze action, leaving the temporary 
laws--and these important advantages for women--in place 
indefinitely.  Meanwhile, the Jordanian press and women's 
groups have responded loudly and negatively to Parliament's 
efforts.  End Summary. 
 
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PARLIAMENT ATTEMPTS TO ROLL BACK WOMEN'S RIGHT TO DIVORCE 
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2. (C) Islamists and some tribal Parliamentarians united to 
initiate the repeal of an amendment to the Civil Status Law 
that allowed women to divorce their husbands and that also 
raised the legal age of marriage.  The amendment allowing 
women the right to divorce received the most condemnation 
from these deputies.  Since the beginning of the year until 
June 30, over 630 women have taken advantage of the law, 
despite the amendment's requirement that a women give up any 
claims to her husband's estate and return her dowry. 
Islamists argued that the law undermined families and 
encouraged divorce.  The press quoted unnamed MPs as 
describing the amendment as "one of the most dangerous laws 
issued in the Kingdom."  The other section of the amendment 
raised the age of marriage for both men and women from 16 and 
15 respectively to 18, and inspired more criticism from 
Parliamentarians, some of whom argued that the law was 
"contradicting the very nature of Jordanian society", 
according to press reports. 
 
3. (C) Whether or not the amendment is actually repealed will 
depend on if the Senate, or Upper House, agrees with the 
decision of the Lower House.  If the Senate approves the 
Lower House decision, then the law is nullified.  If the 
Senate does not agree to repeal the amendment, the temporary 
law is sent back to the Lower House for debate.  If after 
more discussion, the Lower House still wants to repeal the 
law, the Senate and Lower House convene a joint session and 
vote on the repeal.  Only if two-thirds of the combined 
legislators vote to repeal the law is the law then nullified. 
 
 
4. (C) Women's groups have already begun work to gain Senate 
blockage of the Lower House decision, with local press 
reporting that a delegation of women's activists called on 
Senate President Zeid Rifa'i on August 5, the day following 
the Lower House rulings.  Rifa'i told diplomatic contacts 
that his inbox is "very deep", implying that the Senate could 
sit on this issue for some time before bringing it up for 
debate.  Indeed, controversial "temporary" laws can get lost 
in the Parliamentary process for years--there are some in 
effect now that date back to the 1980s. 
 
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HONOR CRIMES AMENDMENT REPEALED...IN NAME ONLY 
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5. (C) The Lower House also voted to reject an amendment to 
the penal code that stiffened penalties for "crimes of 
passion" (Article 340 in the penal code).  In reality, the 
amendment in dispute had no effect on lengthening the prison 
sentences of those accused of honor crimes (the killing of 
women to defend family honor) and was mostly an important 
symbolic gesture by the GOJ when it was passed in 2001 to 
show progress on the issue.  Specifically, the amendment only 
applied to murder victims who are caught by their spouses or 
relatives in the act of committing adultery.  But since 
almost all honor killings take place after the alleged 
adulterous act, courts instead apply a different provision of 
the penal code (Article 98) which allows for lenient 
sentences if the defendant proves he committed the crime 
while temporarily insane.  The potential repeal of women's 
right to divorce will have a much larger practical effect 
than changes to the little-used honor crimes statue. 
 
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GOVERNMENT CAUGHT OFF GUARD 
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6. (C) Planning Minister Awadullah, dismayed by the setback 
to Jordan's image, told us he placed blame at the feet of his 
fellow Ministers.  He said the strength of Parliamentary 
sentiment against the bills was a surprise to Cabinet, which 
was unprepared to offer a defense or shore up support in the 
Lower House. 
 
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PRESS HAMMERS PARLIAMENT 
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7. (C) A broad cross section of editorialists roundly 
criticized the decision to initiate repeal of the two laws. 
Urayb Rintawi in al-Dustour said that the Parliament's 
convening was "one step forward", but that the Lower House's 
decision to repeal the two amendments was "two steps back." 
Bater Wardam in al-Dustour also chastised the decision on the 
two "progressive" amendments as an "unlucky start."  The 
English daily, Jordan Times, was even more vehement in its 
August 5 editorial, "If we knew this was the kind of policy 
that the new Parliament would have upheld, we would have 
never called so eagerly for elections" and said the repealed 
amendments looked like "a return to the Middle Ages". 
 
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PARLIAMENT TO TAKE ON CABINET IN NEXT FEW DAYS 
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8. (C) The Lower House started debate on August 6 to approve 
or disapprove PM Abul Ragheb's new Cabinet.  The debate is 
expected to take 3-5 days (see reftel) and the government 
needs at least 60 votes to approve the Cabinet.  According to 
local diplomatic contacts, the government has already secured 
80-90 favorable votes.  Despite the GOJ's probable lock on 
approval for the Cabinet, debate will probably still be 
intense.  Many deputies are still smarting from the plethora 
of temporary laws passed under PM Abul Ragheb in the absence 
of a parliament and will likely use the debate as a forum to 
express their frustration. 
 
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COMMENT 
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9. (C) The GOJ, backed by the Hashemites, has in general been 
very supportive of moving forward on the rights of 
women--both Queen Rania and Princess Basma have publicly 
embraced women's issues.  However, this would not be the 
first time the government faced resistance from the 
conservative political and social establishment in codifying 
its reform measures: at a conference of Arab First Ladies in 
October 2002, Queen Rania announced that the GOJ would extend 
to Jordanian women the right to pass citizenship to their 
children, a reform opposed by the traditionalist, East Bank 
community.  To date, that reform has languished, despite its 
Queenly imprimatur.  Eager to protect its impressive economic 
reform accomplishments, the GOJ is aware it must make some 
concessions to this conservative Parliament.  Rumor has it, 
the Cabinet may fight less on social issues to spare debate 
on temporary laws that support rigorous economic reforms. 
However, Planning Minister Awadullah (a rival of the PM) 
blames government bungling for a defeat which harms Jordan's 
image and can only be reversed by depending on the Senate to 
slow down or freeze the pace of repeals. 
HALE