Emeute à Maan en Jordanie après la mort d’un homme – novembre 2009
Calm prevails in Maan after rioters clash with police
Monday, November 16th, 2009
By Hani Hazaimeh
AMMAN – Police on Sunday said that the situation in the city of Maan was back to normal after intense riots broke out Saturday in response to the death of a citizen allegedly at the hands of police.
Public Security Department Spokesperson Major Mohammad Khatib told The Jordan Times yesterday that there was no escalation in the southern town and things were back to normal, with no confrontations taking place between police and citizens.
Eyewitnesses told The Jordan Times that the security presence in the city was barely noticeable, adding that the police removed a security booth that was burnt by a group of young rioters during Saturday evening’s violence.
The eyewitness added that traffic on the Desert Highway to Aqaba, which passes through Maan was blocked by the rioters the night before, was proceeding as usual.
Late Saturday, a number of young people in the southern city attacked and burned a police vehicle and a security booth after opening fire on the policemen manning the station.
The attacks were triggered by the death of a man who had been in a coma since Thursday after allegedly being attacked by a police officer during a clash between police and residents who tried to prevent the arrest of a suspect.
Riots were witnessed in other parts of the city on Saturday as some residents protesting the death of Fakhri Anani Kreishan, 44, who died at Al Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, blocked the Desert Highway leading to Aqaba, the residents said. Gunshots were heard in various parts of the city despite earlier attempts by tribal and local community leaders to calm the angry youths who had started to gather in the town squares. Kreishan was buried yesterday with no reports of unrest during the funeral.
Maan has a history of clashes with authorities, starting in 1989, when violent protests broke out after a national economic crisis caused a rise in commodity and fuel prices.
Last week, six Gendarmerie members were hospitalised in a riot that followed the death of a resident in Hai Al Tafaileh in east Amman. In a similar episode, the deceased was allegedly beaten by police before he went into a coma and died.
In an interview with the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Sunday, Minister of Interior Nayef Qadi said that incidents such as these are isolated cases and do not reflect on the Kingdom’s stability or security.
Without mentioning the incidents in Maan or Hai Al Tafaileh specifically, the minister stressed that police are required to treat citizens in a civilised manner and not to resort to unnecessary or excessive force, adding that public security personnel who violate these regulations are held accountable for their actions.
2nd Jordanian this week dies from police beating
By JAMAL HALABY (AP) – 15 nov 2009
AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian citizen died after being beaten by police, the second time this week, a police spokesman said Sunday, casting a rare spotlight on the nation’s U.S.-trained security forces, that may also have worked as proxy jailers for the CIA.
The deaths have provoked angry demonstrations in this stable U.S.-ally. Jordan has largely escaped the reputation for human rights abuses that clings to many of its neighbors.
Fakhri Kreishan, 47, died late Saturday, two days after slipping into a coma caused by a severe beating to the head that took place during a clash between police and residents in the southern city of Maan.
Sadem al-Saud, 20, died last Sunday, three weeks after he was put into a coma by a beating administered during an interrogation in an Amman police station.
Labib Kamhawi, a leading human rights activist, said Jordan has « always been a security-oriented state. »
« That’s why the mentality of police forces is programmed to use excessive force against anything it deems a hazard to national security, » he said.
Last year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Jordan of systematic torture in some detention facilities — something Jordan has denied.
Police spokesman Maj. Mohammed al-Khatib said the six officers suspected of beating Kreishan and al-Saud have been arrested and will be tried in a police court. He said neither of the deceased were wanted by police.
The quick police acknowledgment of the deaths and prosecution of the perpetrators were apparently in response to government fears the news would provoke further demonstrations around the country.
In Maan, violent riots erupted shortly after Kreishan’s death. Angry protesters torched a police vehicle and a security booth after opening fire on the policemen manning the station in the city, said eyewitness Mohammed Anani, a resident of Maan, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of the Jordanian capital.
Dozens of young men also clashed with police and blocked the desert highway leading to the Red Sea port of Aqaba before calm was restored, Anani said in a telephone interview.
« People are angry at police brutality, » he said.
It is unusual for Jordanians to criticize their security apparatus, which has been a long-standing symbol of national pride.
Pro-government lawmaker Mamdouh Abbadi warned that the government « must severely punish the perpetrators for their crimes and announce the findings of the police investigation, or parliament will take action. »
Jordanian security forces had a major role in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism, including assisting Washington in its hunt for al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. air strike in neighboring Iraq in 2006.
Jordan has also purportedly served as a proxy jailer for the CIA until at least 2004, according to Human Rights Watch. The group said that the CIA transferred at least 14 terror suspects to the kingdom for interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Jordan has denied the charge.
Malcolm Smart, regional director for the London-based Amnesty International, said this week’s deaths were a « serious development. »
« This kind of force cannot be tolerated, » he said, adding that the responsible officers must be prosecuted and suspended from the service.
Rioters burn police booth, vehicle in Maan
15 novembre 2009
By Hani Hazaimeh
AMMAN – A number of young people in the southern city of Maan late Saturday attacked and burned a police vehicle and a security booth after opening fire on the policemen manning the station.
The attacks were triggered by the death of a man who had been in coma since Thursday after allegedly being attacked by a police officer during a clash between police and residents who tried to prevent the arrest of a suspect.
Eyewitnesses told The Jordan Times over phone that the police fled the booth without firing back at the angry attackers.
Riots were witnessed in other parts of the city as some residents protesting the death of Fakhri Kreishan, 44, who died at Al Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, blocked the Desert Highway leading to Aqaba, the residents said. Gunshots were heard in various parts of the city.
A security source confirmed the eyewitnesses’ account, saying that the Gendarmerie Forces enhanced their presence in the southern town, 220km from Amman, after the violent developments.
The violence erupted although the tribe of the suspect, a lieutenant who allegedly beat Kresihan with a baton on the head Thursday, were granted atwa, or a truce, by the Kreishan family for three days. Atwa, according to tribal traditions, is a renewable promise of refraining from violence till a final reconciliation.
Tribal and community leaders in the town were earlier engaged in a flurry of activity to soothe simmering feelings after Kreishan was proclaimed dead yesterday afternoon.
Mohammad Bahri, a Maan resident and president of a local charity, told The Jordan Times over phone that young Maanis had gathering in the streets amid intense efforts by the town elders to calm down the situation. The officer accused of causing death to Kreishan was among a taskforce sent to arrest one of his friends, according to the security source.
The source said that members of the Maan police force were on a mission to arrest a suspect in a bad cheque case. The unnamed wanted man took refuge at the house of Kreishan, who tried to prevent the police officers from storming his house to arrest the fugitive.
The source added that a clash erupted between Kreishan, supported by his relatives in the neighbourhood, and members of the police force.
The security source said eyewitnesses were able to identify the suspect at the governor’s office. The suspect, he said, is a lieutenant who was under interrogation.
Kreishan had been evacuated to the army-run Hussein Medical Centre in Amman for treatment for the fatal injury.
Maan has a history of clashes with authorities, starting in 1989, when violent protests broke out after a national economic crisis caused a rise in commodity and fuel prices.
Last week, six Gendarmerie members were hospitalised in a riot that followed the death of a resident in Hai Al Tafaileh in east Amman. In a similar episode, the deceased was allegedly beaten by police before he went into a coma and died.
anthropologie du présent 