Jordan bans book on Saddam pending court review

Jan 14, 2010, 14:24 GMT

Amman - Jordan has banned distribution of a book about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, with the author and officials giving different versions about the move.

While the author, Walid Hosni, said he had been told the book was to be banned, the country's Press and Publications Department (PPD) said it had been referred to a court for a review of its content.

The 596-page book titled 'The Testaments of the Murdered' analyses the message enshrined in Saddam's letters which he wrote in prison before his controversial execution on December 30, 2006 by the present Iraqi government, Hosni said.

It also looks into the decision-making process in Washington leading up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.

'The PPD Director General Nabil Momani told me two days ago that the book was banned and ordered me to send the copies back to Beirut where the book was printed,' Hosni told local media.

He described the step as a blow against 'freedom of expression and opinion.' He said the PPD chief prohibited the distribution of the book in Jordan to avoid 'harming Jordan's ties with Iraq and other Arab countries.'

But the PPD cited 'some flaws' in the book in the decision to send the book for review in court.

'We have decided to send the book to the court to make a decision as it has some flaws. We have no authority to ban the book as the judiciary is the sole entity which decides whether books are banned or not,' Momani told the Jordan Times on Thursday.