Jordan court sentences a satirical journalist to prison

A Jordanian appeals court sentenced prominent satirical journalist Ahmed Hassan Al-Zoubi to one year in prison and ordered him to pay a fine, according to a tweet by Al-Zoubi on X, previously known as Twitter.

“Some friends ask about the story of the sympathy posts. The details are as follows: Today I was informed of the ruling of the Court of Appeal imprisoning me for a full year on the case brought against me by the judiciary during the transportation strikes in Ma’an,” his post on X said.

The decision came after the Amman Magistrate’s Court decided to imprison Al-Zoubi for two months, but the Public Prosecution appealed the verdict. The appeal was accepted and the sentence was changed to one year in addition to a fine.

The case concerns a post by Al-Zoubi on his page dating back to the truck strike, which began in Ma’an Governorate at the end of last year.

On 24 March 2022, police intercepted the vehicle taking him to Amman airport to catch a flight to Istanbul. After confiscating his phone and ID papers, they took him to security headquarters and then released him without charge two hours later.

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