CAIRO/AMMAN: The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned on Tuesday the arrest of union and labor leader Mohammed Al-Sunaid, Chairman of the Day Laborers Committee at the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture. He is also the presenter of the radio program “Awlaad Al Balad.” Al-Sunaid has been referred to a state security court on charges of congregating an “unlawful mob, resisting security and insulting the Minister of Agriculture on the background of Al-Sunaid's participation in lawful laborers sit-in with a group of workers because of arbitrary dismissal,” ANHRI reported. A group of workers with Al-Sunaid had begun a sit-in outside the center of Partnership for Democracy in Madaba city in the presence of the of Minister of Agriculture on Monday evening, “in order to denounce the arbitrary dismissal from their jobs on May 2. “They carried a group of slogans that criticized the Minister of Agriculture. This led the security to break up the sit-in,” arrest Sunaid and others, then took him to a police station in Madaba city and allegedly beat him. According to ANHRI, this made him unconscious for some time, and then he was referred to trial before the state security court on “fabricated charges.” ANHRI added that Al-Sunaid “had a clear syndicated activity for a long time in defense of the rights of workers, in addition to serving as a presenter for the radio program. “The program's ideas based on spreading awareness of laws and legislation related to labors and discuss labors' issues and rights.” ANHRI said that the pretexts of the Jordanian government that freedom of expression is unlimited are “adverse to the detention of a media syndicate member due to criticizing [the] minister. The Jordanian arrest of Al-Sunaid is a trial to silence him as he always defends labor rights against the Jordanian government's abuse.” They argued that this is a violation of the freedom of expression and opinion, which Jordan has repeatedly said it is ending. The pan-Arab network is calling on the Jordanian government “to cancel this exceptional trial for the activist and drop all the fabricated charges against him as well as an open investigation concerning the incident of beating him in a police station and holding the perpetrators accountable. BM/ANHRI
