Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Tuesday commended [press release] the government of Jordan for taking an important step to reform the country’s justice system and urged swift implementation of the proposals. The reforms come from 49 suggestions [press release] made by the Royal Committee for Developing the Judiciary and Enhancing the Rule of Law to improve the judicial system [Jordan Times report]. Some of the proposed reforms include limiting pretrial detention, creating a right to a lawyer, establishing a public defender system and restructuring honor crime sentencing. The proposals call for amendments to 13 laws, as well as four new laws and are expected to be implemented within the year. HRW urged the government to ensure their implementation:

Jordanian authorities should seize the opportunity to carry out long-awaited measures that would dramatically improve the country’s criminal justice system. … Given the king’s full endorsement, the government and parliament should move quickly to formally enact the justice system measures.

HRW reiterated that this was an important step but noted that there are still more reforms needed, such as updating the definition of torture.

Jordan has faced international criticism of its judicial process. In response to the mass execution of 15 people in Jordan earlier this month, several human rights groups, including Amnesty International (AI), condemned [JURIST report] the hanging as being secretive and conducted “without transparency.” The Jordanian government arrested eight activists [JURIST Report] in January, charging them with “insulting the King” and “incitement to spread chaos to undermine the political regime of Jordan using social media.” AI released images [JURIST report ] from the “desert no man’s land” between Jordan and Syria last September showing thousands of refugees trapped in the area.