[JURIST] Jordan [JURIST news archive] demonstrated a poor human rights record in 2006, according to a report released Tuesday by the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) [unofficial advocacy website]. The report singled out for particular criticism the country's controversial Terrorism Prevention Law, passed [JURIST report] last year in response to the Amman hotel bombing [CTV report] that killed 57 people in 2005. The AOHR joined opposition parties and UN officials in characterizing its provisions as tantamount to martial law [JURIST report], saying it imposes harsh penalties beyond the scope of the criminal code.

The report also denounced the decision to extradite suspected terrorist Mohammad Zaki Amawi [indictment], a dual citizen, to the United States without providing him a prior trial in Jordan. It additionally condemned Jordan's agreement [JURIST report] with the US not to deliver any US citizen to the International Criminal Court at The Hague without prior written approval from Washington. According to both the AOCHR report and the 2006 US Department of State Country Report for Jordan [DOS backgrounder], Jordanian officials obtained confessions from detainees by using physical abuse or threats of torture. DPA has more.