AKEED, Husam Assal

The Jordan News Agency (Petra) carried a story early this month, including a directive by the Cabinet to publish the names and photos of racketeers in the press. The story read as follows: "The Cabinet has directed that the names and photos of persons who carry out such actions (levy protection money), which are alien to the traditions and norms of our society, be published in the newspapers." However, it did not specify the mechanism through which the government will implement the directive, the timing of publishing, or the legal basis of the directive.

Mohammed Qtaishat, director of the Media Commission, told AKEED that he had not received anything from the Cabinet related to publishing the names and photos of racketeers or even the timing of the publishing. The Commission is part of the government and plays an executive role. He added: "I cannot give dictates to newspapers or electronic sites regarding content."

According to relevant laws, the publication of news and coverage of crimes should be restricted to simple reporting without elaboration and without mentioning how a crime was committed and the names of suspects wanted in connection with a certain incident. The Press and Publications Law prohibits "publishing minutes of investigation related to any case before it is referred to the competent court unless the public prosecution allows this." Therefore, publishing the photo of a suspect is also prohibited. Article 225 of the Penal Code stipulates that a publisher shall be fined if he publishes a document of an investigation into a crime or felony before it is read in a public trial, in addition to judicial proceedings in camera, trials in defamation cases, or any trial which the court prohibits publishing.

Dr. Sakhr Khasawneh, professor of media legislation and ethics at the Jordan Media Institute, told AKEED that "the decision of the Cabinet to publish the photos of persons involved in cases of racketeering runs counter to the provisions of the law since an accused person is innocent until proven guilty. Also, there can be no crime or punishment except based on a provision." He added that these principles are enshrined in the Jordanian Constitution. Jordan has endorsed them by acceding to international conventions. They are also stipulated in the provisions related to the Criminal Procedure Law.

Khasawneh explained that it is permissible to publish the names and photos of suspects once a final verdict is passed convicting them of these actions. He added: "A verdict is considered final if it cannot be appealed in any way as stipulated by the law." He said that publishing names and photos as soon as those persons are arrested is against the law.

Publishing names and photos before a final verdict is issued against suspects is considered a violation of Article 147 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which stipulates that "an accused person is innocent until proven guilty." It is also considered slander of the suspects before a verdict is issued as this does not take into consideration the possibility of the suspects being found innocent.

The Access to Information Law prevents concerned officials from "publishing information related to investigations conducted by the public prosecution, judicial police, or security agencies concerning any crime or case within its competence, as well as the investigations conducted by the competent authorities." It only excluded cases whereby the competent party authorizes this.

The story should have clarified the timing of publishing the photos in order to determine the legal aspect of publishing and how much it agrees with the conditions for publishing. These conditions restrict publishing to procedures of public hearings and state that the publishing must be simultaneous with the timing of the trial provided that the publisher demonstrates goodwill.