Jordan is celebrating the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein to a Saudi architect with lavish events designed to showcase the heir to the throne.
Under the cover of “protecting morality,” the Iraqi government in February charged more than a dozen social media stars and activists with releasing what it judged to be “inappropriate content.” It even created a smartphone app so concerned citizens can report anything they find offensive.Jordan is preparing for the wedding of its crown prince and a Saudi architect who studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in L.A.
“It’s the same mentality that justifies blocking AlHudood,” said Raya Sharbain, who works as a security trainer in Jordan with the Tor project, which maintains software for the Tor anonymity network. It would also effectively outlaw criticism: A negative restaurant review on Google Maps, for example, could see its author charged with slander and forced to pay a fine exceeding $4,000.
“The law says you’ll have to do prison time and pay money, leaving nothing to the judge’s discretion,” said Yahya Shuqair, an expert on Jordanian media legislation. “As an activist, even if I have facts as clear as the sun, I would be afraid to write them.” He added it was the latest in a years-long regression of press freedoms in the Arab world.
Uraiqat sees the law as a continuation of the region’s years-long rollback of press freedoms gained in the years following the Arab Spring; since then, he said, the space for media to operate has become even more restrictive than before the 2011 revolutions. The ramped-up crackdown comes at a sensitive time for King Abdullah II, whose British education and aloof, Western-inflected style have drawn criticism from some quarters that he’s out of touch with his people — a point that rankled two years ago when Prince Hamzeh, Abdullah’s half-brother and one-time crown prince, spoke out against Jordan’s leadership in whatEven before that incident, the government restricted journalists’ work, issuing gag orders and forcing impossible-to-fulfill conditions...
One of the new laws makes it so a negative restaurant review on Google Maps, for example, could see its author charged with slander and forced to pay a fine exceeding $4,000.