Information transmitted to the Government and replies received
363. By letter dated 26 August 1993 the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information regarding Husayn al-Jidi, Fu'ad Shrifat, Basel al-Zaghlul and Sulayman al-Zuyud, reportedly arrested on 20 April 1993 under accusation of membership of the illegal Liberation Party in Jordan (LPJ) and of participation in a plot to assassinate King Hussein of Jordan. They were first reportedly taken to the General Intelligence Department (GID) in Amman; however, the security authorities were said to have initially denied holding them. None of them, allegedly, were allowed access to a lawyer, and family visits were only allowed in mid-August, when they were being held in Zarga military prison awaiting trial. After these visits the relatives reported that the detainees had been subjected to torture while held at GID and that they still bore the marks of beatings.
364. In a letter dated 8 September 1993 the Government strongly denied the above allegations and stated that the detainees had been accorded the full protection of due process of law, including legal counsel and defence in accordance with judicial procedures and standards guaranteed by the Constitution. The cases were still under judicial investigation and the trial had been scheduled to take place on 9 September 1993. It would be open to the press and the general public, including the relatives of the detainees.
365. In the light of the reply provided by the Government, the source informed the Special Rapporteur that in October all detainees had retracted their confessions in court, saying they had been extracted under torture. They had stated that when held in GID Headquarters' detention centre in Amman they had been tortured by methods that included falaga and threats of sexual assault. One of them, Husayn al-Jidi, had sustained an injury over his left eyebrow requiring sutures, which he said was caused by beatings, while the prosecutor suggested it was the result of an attempt at suicide by banging his head against a cell door. The source also reported that the Court had not allowed the detainees to be examined by doctors of their choice, as their defence lawyers had requested, only by doctors chosen through the Minister of Health. The examinations had not been conducted until the end of September and their results were being debated.