The Jordanian Communist Party (JCP) announced on Monday, March 9, that two of its leaders, Dr. Omar Awad and Osama Zain Aldin, were arrested the day before by Jordanian authorities.
The party noted that the arrests were carried out “in a crude manner and through arbitrary procedures, without any legal justification or grounds.”
It also indicated that the apprehension of Awd and Zain Aldin came a few days after Bahaa Aldin Elayyan, another member of the party and a university student, was detained by the authorities.
JCP strongly condemned the detention of the three members in a statement, describing it as “an intense move” which reflects the authorities’ persistent attempts to restrict the party’s activities and target public freedoms.
“The arrest of leading comrades in the party is nothing but a desperate attempt to pressure the Party to abandon its principled policies and positions regarding national and regional issues. It constitutes a blatant assault on the Jordanian Constitution and the laws regulating political life, as well as a clear violation of the commitments undertaken by the state under international conventions related to public freedoms and human rights – foremost among them the freedom of organization and political party activity, and the freedom of opinion and expression,” the statement reads.
The party further affirmed that “political activities are fundamental constitutional rights that must not be trespassed or diminished,” and demanded the “immediate release of the detained comrades”.
Moreover, JCP urged “political parties, national political forces, national industrial workers and human rights organizations to raise their voices loudly for the release of political detainees, to confront the policies of repression and silencing, and to defend public freedoms and safeguard the right to political activity and party organization, as a fundamental condition for any genuine democratic political life.”
It is worth noting that the party stated on Thursday, March 12, that Zain Aldin was released by the authorities without being presented any charges, while Awad and Elayyan are still held in detention.
Jordan’s broader crackdown campaign on political parties and activists
The last couple of years marked an intense crackdown campaign by the Jordanian authorities against political parties, groups, journalists and activists, amid serious regional geopolitical developments propelled by Israel’s all-out multi-front war across West Asia.
Read more: Jordan bans Muslim Brotherhood, confiscates its assets after alleged security plot
As this war has been waged with the full sponsorship of the United States (and in the case of Iran, full participation), some of Washington’s allies in the region, including the Jordanian government, have sought to silence dissenting voices opposing the fierce imperialist aggression against the people of the region.
Hands off the communists of Jordan, says the Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA denounced the detention of the members of JCP as “a baseless act of anti-communist repression”, which represents “an affront to all peaceful, sovereign and democratic forces under conditions of intensifying imperialist war.”
The party demanded that the Jordanian authorities stop their repressive measures against communists in Jordan, saying: “Hands off the communists of Jordan!”
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