Things to say about being detained/imprisoned in Jordan

In The Black Iris today, Nas gave a good point about the case of human rights in Jordan. Personally, I believe that Capital punishment should be eliminated unless there were indisputable evidence or unforced confessions. I also think that 10 years should be given before the execution to give time for any further developments and that judges should investigate whether confessions were made under torture or not.

Regarding the issue of torture and miss-treatment for prisoners and detainees I think that the country did take few good steps towards fixing the problem. The most comprehensive coverage is given by Amnesty International and Amman Center for Human Rights Studies. The later has a very detailed account on the problem and the steps taken to fix it, few steps are:

1- Building new prisons that are more adequate. This point was kinda surprising for the authors since "the building structures in most prisons appeared adequate, with the exception of Juwaida and parts of Qafqafa, and sanitary facilities." So instead of fixing a small problem, our Gov. decided to build things from scratch hmmm...

2- One new prison is going to be a Super-maximum security prison (in Muaqqar). These became trendy in the US starting from the 80's and human rights organizations have many issues with them. But I guess it's a step to separate dangerous prisoners from other less-violent detainees...Don't be so sure since the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Interior Mukhaimer Abu Jammous said that this prison is for certain crimes, not for certain criminal natures...After concerns being made, the gov. stated that this facility will be used only for violent criminals. I wonder if we will start seeing criminals in orange suits.

These reports are lacking one crucial point; They didn't tackle the claimed torture during crime investigations in police departments and other security services. In that field I can say that the General Intelligence Department (GID) had taken few referendums in it's ways and they are trying to come back from a notorious reputation. I had a friend that got arrested by them and spent 4 days in their hospitality. He was satisfied with the treatment he got: He had his own cell, own clean bathroom, meals on time, he had his holly book and they told him that he can fast if he wants and they would cut his breakfast and lunch and give him a double dinner at breakfast time! Now that's impressive. He seemed by far less happy about the following days in "Preventive Security" cells where he reported torture and the few days he ahd to spend in Al-Jafer (which is closed now). A relative of mine reported on his visit to the GID by saying: "it was something close to a job interview". Few questions about some people he knew and then off you go.

To sum things up. I think that Jordan did take few good steps in this historic soar thumb to our image as a modern civilized country. Further processing must be demand and monitored, especially on issues regarding detention.

Names of Jordanian Territories and there "Translations"

The difficulty
العقبة

Blue City
الزرقاء

Rounded
المدورة

Clouds City
مدينة سحاب

Units
الوحدات

Immigrants
المهاجرين

Green Mountain
جبل الاخضر

Clean Mountain
جبل النظيف

Mars Mountain
جبل المريخ

Crown Mountain
جبل التاج

Picnic Mountain
جبل النزهة

Iron Mountain
جبل الحديد

Vinegar Blasphemy
كفر خل

Heaven's Eye
عين جنة

Goat's Eye
عين التيس

General's Eye
عين الباشا

Linttellete
العدسية

Fork
المفرق

Starch triangle
مثلث النشا

Immortal hospital
مستشفى الخالدي

The lowerer area
حي نزال

Dust Monastery
دير غبار

The Chair
الكرسي

the decent of the camper
نزول الخيام

The ceiling of the stream
سقف السيل

The hole
الجورة

The station Street
شارع المحطة

Happy Preacher Street
شارع سعيد المفتي

The furnace
المحرقة

The Blue
الأزرق

The hot
السخنة

The Egyptian Area
حي المصاروة

The reservoir Circle
دوار الحاووز

Internal Circle
دوار الداخلية

Horses
الحصن

The round belt
الحزام الدائري

Traffic Vally
وادي السير

Rain Vally
وادي الشتا

The Bar
العارضة

And still looking for the translation of
(قفقفا)

You know you are an Arab if

You know you are an Arab if :



You go to Arabic restaurants, tell the owners you're Arab, and think you're
going to get free food.

You have to constantly remind your American friends to take off their shoes when they enter your house.

You flip out when someone mistakes you for a Mexican or Indian.

You say "bolice" instead of "police".

You inherited or will inherit land in your country.

You brag about your kids even if they are bad.

Your spouse is also your first cousin.

You're fat and blame it on the kids, or you're bald and blame it on the stress.

Your aunt asks you when she can dance at your wedding.

You smoke as if it were your last day on earth...and you only smoke Marlboro.

You think its cool to dance and smoke at the same time.

You wear more cologne than deodorant.

You fight over who pays the dinner bill.

You pronounce "comfortable" cun-fort-a-bull.

You say the letter "h" like "etch."

You put olive oil in and on everything and brag about how healthy it is.

You gossip about your own family...with members of your own family.

You cook a meal that lasts 3 days.

You pity anyone who is not an Arab and think all other cultures are morally corrupt.

You have fruit trees in your backyard and when they are in season you live off them.

You don't use the word "tease" in English cause you feel weird.

Your father swears at you with words that effect himself (Ibn-Kalb).

You have 500,000,000 cousins.

Your relatives alone could populate a small city.

At weddings it takes the bride and groom 4 hours to kiss all the guests.

You "get down" from the car instead of "getting out" of it.

You have a gold necklace of your name written in Arabic.

Your middle name is your father's first name.

If you are male, you're named after your grandfather or great-grandfather.

You play cards till the break of dawn.

You can't have a meal without bread.

You never run out of bizzir.

You get offended when Americans call Arabic bread "Pita bread"

If you are an Arab woman, you dye your hair an obviously fake shade of blonde that is nonexistent in nature and swear that it's natural.

You feel proud when someone famous or a celebrity has any Arabic blood in them.

You teach your American friends Arabic words (mostly bad ones) and get happy when they use them in normal conversations.

Your Mom has a creative nickname for you like "Natoosheh," or "Tuntooneh."

You have a difficult Arabic name so you come up with an Americanized version of it like "Sam" or "Mike."

You have someone tell you your fortune through your coffee cup.

You love Um Kalthoom and if you don't, your dad makes you listen to her and tries to translate the words into English so you can appreciate her as much as he does.

Three or more relatives live in your neighborhood.
If you're a single Arab guy, you tell women you're a "successful businessman" or that you "own a successful business back home" even if you're an unemployed goat herder.

You get real happy and call the whole family to the room when there is a special or documentary on Arabs or anything Arabic related on CNN or PBS.

Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner even if you're in the next room.

You arrive one or two hours late to a party and think it's normal.

You are standing next to the largest suitcases at the Airport.

You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

You say bye 17 times on the phone.

Your parents still scream at the top of their lungs when making long distance calls.

You always say "open the light" instead of "turn the light on".

You've had a shoe thrown at you by your mother.

When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover they know one of your uncles back home.

Your mother does everything for you if you are male.

You do all the housework and cooking if you are female.

You refer to your dad's friends as Amoo.

You still came back home to live with your parents after you graduate.

You have an endless supply of pistachios, dates, and pumpkin seeds.

Your parents say you're becoming westernized anytime you get into trouble.

You curse at your teachers or strangers in Arabic.

You have at least thirty cousins.

Your parents want you to become a doctor or engineer.

You use your forehead and eyebrows to point something out.

Your parents drink 6 cups of tea a day.

You can spot an Arab a mile away and they have spotted you because they keep staring.

After a family meal, the women fight to the death over who should wash the dishes while the men sit on their behinds and discuss politics, waiting for their tea.

You have to constantly remind your American friends to take off their shoes when they enter your house.