AMMAN — A meeting held in the Lower House
on Tuesday saw the Parliamentary Legal Committee discuss the legal status of
the tribal jalwa. Jalwa, in its simple translation means "banishment"
or "exile," and often requires that people accused of
grave crimes, and their families, leave the area where the act was
committed in order to avoid never ending cycles of reprisal.
اضافة اعلان
According to the amended draft law (2016)
of the Crime Prevention Law (1954), Jalwa is defined as “the deportation of the
offender’s family from the area in which the victim’s family resides.”
Committee member, MP Ghazi Thneibat, said
that the committee is looking into the possibility of cancelling the jalwa, and
that it will send a summary of the meeting’s results to the government in the
next few days. "Everyone is against jalwa today, and no one is calling for
it. jalwa is illegal," Thneibat said.
For his part, MP Saleh Wukhayan, refuted
what his colleague said, adding that the meeting’s aim is to legitimize the jalwa.
He added that the committee continues its meeting with the representatives of
the tribes and representatives of the government in order to reach a consensus.
“There is no cancellation of jalwa, what is
happening is an attempt to reduce the effects of the Jalwa and to limit it to
the family record book only.” Wukhayan said.
Minister of State for Legal Affairs, Mahmoud
Al-Kharabsheh, clarified that jalwa does not conflict with the judiciary,
adding that the judiciary in the judge.
“In the past we had a tribal court, today
the major criminal court has replaced the tribal court and its ruling is
enforceable, as soon as any ruling is issued by it, any tribal ruling, whether
it is jalwa or otherwise, falls,” Kharabsheh said.
“We do not support jalwa in its broad sense
because we are a developed and civilized state of law,” Kharabsheh said. “But,
at the same time, we cannot deny our good tribal customs which aim to establish
community peace.”
He said that jalwa was prevalent when
society lived a Bedouin lifestyle.
“Today, the form of life has changed and the
nature of life has become stable. Therefore, Jalwa has become a huge burden,” the
minister added.
As for the purpose of jalwa, Kharabsheh
clarified that when a problem occurs between two parties, the conflict is
resolved through jalwa in order to prevent further problems and to declare a
truce to give those who want to reconcile the two parties together the
opportunity to end the conflict without causing more damage.
Kharabsheh explained that the jalwa occurs
in only three cases, namely: killing, honor related cases, and disrespecting
the word of the tribe that intervened to resolve a tribal conflict.
The minister added that jalwa is currently
applied in the narrowest way, and it is applied to the person concerned with
the crime, his brothers and his father, or the person concerned with the crime
and his children. jalwa is also applied to men only, excluding women and
children, and takes place in the same governorate, people move from one neighbourhood
to another or from one village to another.
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