JORDAN: On-line editor prosecuted for publishing articles by opposition

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/80010644e47c553c45fa973771b00fb6.htm

AMMAN, 29 January (IRIN) - Human right activists have called on the government to drop charges filed against the editor of an opposition party website for posting articles written by parliamentarians more than a year ago.

"We want freedom of press as high as the sky, as King Abdullah said recently," said Nidal Mansour, director of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ). "But, given this case, the Jordanian government is clearly not going in this direction, and we condemn it."

On 5 January, prosecutors at the State Security Court (SSC) charged Jamil Abu Bakr, editor of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) party's website, with "belittling the dignity of the Jordanian state". The charge referred to articles posted in December 2004 on an IAF webpage.

The incriminating articles, which criticised alleged favouritism in the appointment of senior government officials, were written by two IAF representatives, Azzam al-Hunaidi and Ali Abu Sukkar.

Don't be dissing the king in Jordan.