Middle East News
Jordan's human rights watchdog blames prison riots on bad treatment
Apr 17, 2008, 10:28 GMT
Amman - Jordan's state-funded National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) on Thursday blamed riots at two jails earlier this week on 'bad treatment' of prisoners and improper application of a plan to segregate them.
Three inmates were killed and more than 100 others were wounded on Monday and Tuesday when unrest broke at the Muwaqqar and Suwaqa jails south of Amman.
Officials said that hundreds of prisoners set fire to their sleeping quarters to protest a plan recently adopted by the Public Security Department (PSD) for separating and classifying inmates according to their type of crimes and punishment.
An NCHR team visited one of the jails, interviewed prisoners and found that the inmates 'were severely beaten by police members even after the riots subsided and during the NCHR team's tours.
'The NCHR considers what happened at Muwaqqar jail a big setback and a strong violation of the prisoners' dignity which must be maintained and protected at all times according to international law and conventions,' the NCHR said in its report.
Although the centre agreed with the PSD plans to separate detainees from convicts, it blamed the department for improper application of the decision.
The NCHR said that its members were not allowed to enter the Suwaqa prison and meet prisoners.
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