Calls for Jordan to release Syria journalist

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday called for Jordan to immediately release Syrian journalist, Ibrahim Awwad, who was arrested last week and is now threatened with being sent back to Syria.

RSF reported Awwad’s friend saying that Jordanian security officials “raided Awwad’s home in Amman on 17 November, arrested him and seized his laptop and mobile phone.”

Later on, Awwad was beaten and taken along with three other detainees with links to the Syrian opposition to Azraq refugee camp, 80 kilometres east of Amman. “He is now threatened with deportation to Syria, where he would face probable reprisals,” RSF said.

Sabrina Bennoui, the head of RSF’s Middle East desk, said: “We call on the Jordanian authorities to release the journalist Ibrahim Awwad.”

Bennoui added: “Under no circumstances should Amman become an accomplice to the direct persecution of a journalist whose critical reporting puts him in danger in his country of origin.”

“Awwad’s arrest comes at a delicate time following a visit by a Syrian ministerial delegation in late September that led to the restoration of bilateral cooperation.”

RSF reported that a “Syrian intelligence official specifically asked the Jordanian authorities to address the issue of Syrian journalists covering the situation in Deraa.”

The source reported by RSF also said that “the Jordanian authorities have reportedly also urged several members of the Syrian opposition to leave Jordan.”

Jordan is ranked 129th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

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