AMMAN — The
Amman Court of First Instance on Sunday approved an appeal to cease the
prosecution of the Jordan Teachers’ Syndicate (JTS), as a subject of public
law, but upheld a 2020 decision to dissolve the association’s council, central
body, and branches.
اضافة اعلان
Regarding an
appeal filed by members of the JTS council challenging their one-year prison
sentences for illegal assembly and inciting hatred at educational institutions,
the court upheld the decision in principle but reduced the sentence to three
months instead of one year.
Before commuting
the sentences, the court said that it had taken into account the age of the
inmates and said it wished to give them a second chance, according to the
Jordan News Agency, Petra.
Human rights
activist Hala Ahed said “we respect the court’s decision, but it indicates that
the animosity against the syndicate and the charges brought against the members
of the union’s council are still there.”
She said that
nothing was proved against the teachers and, moreover, they were denied the
right to present their testimonies.
“As activists, we are surprised by some of the rulings that have been
issued and by how the central council, the subsidiary body, and its members are
dissolved and prosecuted,” she added.
Lawyer Bassam
Freihat said that all the ruling did was to dissolve the association’s council
and subsidiary body, rather than the association itself, and to declare that
the members of the council are not responsible for influencing voters, or for
encouraging in speech or in writing the carrying out of illegal acts, adding
that the ruling can be annulled, but if it becomes final, elections will be
held to elect a new council.
Jordanian
Teachers’ Syndicate spokesperson Nour Aldeen Nadeem said the decision to stop
the prosecution of the teachers’ association for all crimes attributed to it
and dissolving the council and its elected bodies came as a surprise.
He said: “We call for an
end to this dossier, in the public interest and fairness to all parties,
including to those teachers who were deprived of their jobs who are no longer
accused of having harmed the public interest, and ask that reforms be
comprehensive.”
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