Amman, AKEED

On 3 January, the daily Al Rai published a story on the top of its front page headlined "MP Circumvents Law To Obtain University Seat in Medicine," in which it accused an unnamed deputy of circumventing the law by transferring his daughter to the civil record of his brother so that she could benefit from seats designated for children of employees of a public university in which he had worked as a "member of the teaching staff."

News sites quickly reported the text of the story as published in Al Rai. Then, other sites revealed the identity of the MP, who is Husni Shiyyab, deputy for the district of Bani Ubaid in the Irbid Governorate. They added some details to the story. Also, social media users circulated the link to the story in Al Rai and other electronic sites and raised the subject for debate, which, as usual, was "free" from restrictions when it came to the words that were used, including some characterizations of the person of the deputy.

Al Rai reported in its original story that it had obtained official papers indicating that the daughter of the MP received a new national number and was added to the civil record of her uncle. The deputy"s daughter sat for the General Secondary Education (Tawjihi) examination in 2011. She scored 88.4. Afterward, she was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine at a public university. She obtained one of the seats designated for children of employees.

The newspaper added that according to informed sources at the Civil Status and Passports Department, the current MP had shown up at the department a few months before and requested that his daughter be again transferred from the civil registration of her uncle to his own civil record. The department declined and asked him to go to court. A while later, the MP produced a court ruling, allowing for the transfer of his daughter again from the civil registration of her uncle to his own civil record in his capacity as her father.  

While the story attributed the position of the Civil Status to "informed sources," a news site made a call to Marwan Qteishat, director general of the Civil Status and Passports Department, who said that "the girl was born in 1992. She is currently in the civil record of the deputy"s brother. The birth was registered twice; the first was by the MP, while the second was by his brother. The second registration took place two months after the first, which is against the law. Consequently, there was a need for a court ruling to decide on this." However, he pointed out that there was no suspicion of forgery in the records of the department.

It is clear here that the registration of the girl in the civil record of her uncle happened at the time of her birth and that it preceded her registration in the civil record of her father. The MP explained the circumstances of this situation. He stated that the case was known within the family circle and was due to special social, humanitarian reasons.

In other media outlets, the MP denied the truth of the information published by the newspaper  and vowed to go to court. He said this in a video clip posted on electronic sites, in which he asserted that the story was untrue and that he had the documents that prove it to be false. He indicated that what happened was simply an act of settling scores by certain persons. The MP also denied, in a statement to a news site, that the reason for the transfer was to obtain a university seat for her. He said something to the effect that she studied at his own expense and through the "Parallel Program" of admission. This conflicts with statements made by the university president, as we will see later.

Another news site provided new information by publishing a photocopy of a birth certificate for the student issued in 1995, showing that the girl was registered in her uncle"s record in 1992. It also posted a photocopy of a certificate of appreciation for the student while carrying the name of her uncle in elementary school. In an interview with the site, the MP considered what happened to be interference in private life, which the press is not entitled to discuss. He said that his daughter was studying medicine through the Parallel Program.

However, Al Rai daily published another report on the next day, 4 January, which included an interview with Dr. Omar Jarrah, president of the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), who was also interviewed by a news site. Jarrah confirmed that the deputy"s daughter was a fifth-year student of medicine. She was registered on the Parallel Program for children of staff since her father, according to existing documents, is a former member of the teaching staff of the university.

Jarrah added: "If the case proves to be true and it is confirmed through student records at the university, then "financial" legal action will be taken according to which the student will have to pay back some money because she studied at the expense of the university, and not based on competition or the Parallel Program." 

The case, which has preoccupied many media outlets and aroused the curiosity of public opinion, is still not fully clear. Each outlet has highlighted certain elements and suppressed others. The coverage has been accompanied by a host of contradictions affecting form, as well as content. In his interview with Al Rai, the JUST president confirmed (according to what the newspaper published) that she is still a student in her fifth year. Meanwhile, in a statement to an electronic site, the same president was quoted as saying that the student had graduated from university.  Additionally, there was conflicting information about the average that she obtained in the General Secondary examination, which ranged between 88.4, 91.3, and 93. As for the year in which the student was born, some news sites said that she was born in 1995, while the story of Al Rai said that she was born in 1992.  

In terms of content, the AKEED Monitor observed that some sites adopted the viewpoint of the deputy and defended it by posting the documents that he presented without exploring their details and excluding some information pertinent to the case. Other sites adopted the story of Al Rai, which was certain that the transfer to the civil record of the uncle happened late for the purpose of obtaining the seat.

At a later stage, other electronic sites linked the issue to other incidents or personalities. For example, a news site linked it to the timing of the session of the Lower House of Parliament, in which a motion of no confidence in Interior Minister Salameh Hammad was submitted. This is because MP Shiyyab was one of the deputies who supported the motion of no confidence against the minister. The site published a news item titled: "Suspicious Timing of Shiyyab"s Case…Government"s Options After Deputies Gained Precedent of Deadline."

Another electronic site published an item under the following sensational headline: "Who Is the Prime Minister Who Raised the Issue of Deputy Shiyyab"s Daughter?" It quoted close sources as saying that former Prime Minister Abdul Rauf Rawabdeh was the one who raised the issue of the deputy as some sort of settling scores so as to list it as a case of corruption against the deputy, taking advantage of the fact that his son-in-law is in the media (the writer of the original story in Al Rai).

The issue has generated a lot of reactions because it was published in the semiofficial newspaper Al Rai and on the first page, which is unusual for the newspaper in such cases. Opinions varied whether this is within the right of the press to criticism, or if it encroaches on the private life of the deputy and targets his personality.

In an interview with AKEED, Dr. Sakhr Khasawneh, professor of media legislation, said: "Although the story published in Al Rai on the first page did not mention the name of the deputy, it is appealing to readers and the headline is not free from exaggeration: "MP Circumvents Law To Obtain University Seat in Medicine." Upon publishing it, the deputy became known quickly and his name was released. He also made statements to other media outlets."

On the violations included in the press item, Khasawneh said: "The press item did not contain documents to confirm the truth of the news. Also, the deputy was not given a chance to express his opinion of the case. The press report that was published the next day and that included an interview with the university president did not confirm the information included in the first report."

Judging the press item to be in agreement with legitimate criticism or saying that it contained some offense is up to the judiciary. Since the deputy said that he would go to court, we do not have the right to comment on the case and say if it is within the right of legitimate criticism or if it contains violations.

The law gives the press the right to exercise criticism as part of its work if it is linked to public interest and if it is a subject that concerns the public and publishing it is free from bad faith. It must have the requirement of good faith, which is public interest. In this case, the court is the one to decide if what was published is within the right of criticism or not.

Khasawneh confirmed that the comments and items published on social media and electronic sites violated the private life of the deputy and encroached on the private life of his daughter as she was a victim of customs and traditions.

Khasawneh added: "Assuming that the facts mentioned by the deputy in relation to the registration were true, they have a statute of limitations, from a criminal angle. Consequently, the civil record was corrected based on a court ruling. The university seat that the student obtained in medicine is valid and her study is valid. However, financial exemptions are legally invalid. Therefore, she is entitled to a university seat, while the university is entitled to demand payment of the difference in tuition fees from which she benefited."