Albawaba.com – Amman
Three detained members of the anti-normalization committee at Jordan’s professional associations have decided to suspend for 48 hours the hunger they planned as a protest against their arrest following the committee's publication of a “black list” comprising 68 individuals and firms accused of having contacts with Israel. Meanwhile, deputies at the Lower House called Sunday for corrective measures to the associations’ mechanism of work.
The activists, who were detained last month together with four other committee members, retracted their decision following a recommendation by their colleague pending a settlement of the issue, which has been the talk of the street.
In a statement to Albawaba.com, Hashem Khalidi, a member of the Jordan Press Association’s anti-normalization sub-committee, said the authorities have turned down a new petition to release their colleagues on bail.
Four of the detainees have been bailed so far, and an eighth suspect, Ali Hattar is at large and is reported to be in Iraq.
Khalidi himself was interrogated and bailed days ago, among other suspects. The total number of suspects interrogated has so far reached 21 members of the committees.
The three suspects remaining in custody are Ghassan Doa’r, Subhi Abu Zaghlan who are accused of “belonging to an illegal organization, and writing material that could lead to revengeful acts,” while the head of the prime anti-normalization committee, Ali Abu Sukkar, is additionally accused of possessing explosives and weapons.
Meanwhile, deputies at the Lower House took a hardline stand against the associations and called for abolishing obligatory membership from the associations’ law, and banning the members from practicing politics. In a third suggestion, seen by observers as the most dangerous, the MPs called on the government to have control on the associations’ funds, worth tens of millions of Jordanian dinars.
The idea was that the state Audit Commission bring the funds under its control to protect the members’ money, claiming that the associations have indulged in projects running at financial losses.
Advocates of the three suggestions concluded that the professional associations’ work should be confined to purely professional activities, leaving politics behind.
Another group of the MPs took a moderate position as it called for “modifying the work of the associations.”
According to Deputy Mahmoud Kharabsheh in a statement to Albawaba.com, “the associations are civil society institutions which shoulder the burden of securing decent lives for their members.”
However, Kharabsheh said that it is not wrong to try correcting the work mechanism of the organizations “away from impromptu actions.” He noted that there are 100,000 members of the associations who constitute “ the elite in the society.”
The MP concluded by calling on the professionals to be “up to expectations and work within their limits.”
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
