The Arrest: Evening, Tuesday, April 9, 2002

Inside the Union of Professional Associations (UPA) Complex in Amman, a group of activists (including myself and Engineer Shadi Mdanat) were discussing the use of tear–gas bombs and their effect on human health (especially in crowded areas where gas always leaks into houses).

Inside my bag was an empty (used) tear–gas canister with the following numbers engraved in its bottom side: 1079.

The discussion was oriented around these numbers that, as we presumed, represented the date of manufacture of this particular canister that was collected from a recent demonstration scene in Amman. The discussion also tackled the adverse effects of using expired tear–gas or (as was stated on another canister) "Multi–Irritant" agents.

The discussion was brought up since there were many complaints conveyed to organizations and committees working in the fields of liberties and human rights that "expired gas canisters" are being regularly used against demonstrators. These complaints made the Jordan Society for Citizen Rights (JSCR) send a letter to the Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Al–Ragheb on April 6, 2002 saying: "The JCSR has received with great concern many complaints regarding the use of expired tear gas bombs by security forces, which results in damaging side–effects on human health, this requires from you an immediate investigation and punishment of those who are responsible for these acts".

Once I was out of the complex accompanied by Engineer Shadi Mdanat, tow agents from Preventive Security followed us and called me by name: "Dr. Hisham..., Dr. Hisham..". When I looked back, they asked me to give them the empty canister. I refused, so one of them went and came back with the officer in charge. The latter asked to search my handbag. I told him he cannot do this unless he showed me a search warrant. He laughed, and after some discussion, he ordered that we be taken to the quarters of Preventive Security in Abdali. There, the handbag was taken from me and searched thoroughly, the empty canister, a video film on Sabra and Chatilla massacre, and some documents were confiscated.

We were then referred to questioning. We refused this procedure, asked for a lawyer and refused to sign any statement. We were not told about the charge that they arrested us upon, nor were we allowed access to a lawyer or a phone. During my stay in the Preventive Security quarters I saw across the corridor in another interrogation room the questioning of a boy (whom I met later in detention) who was accused of "burning a bus during demonstrations" (I later knew that this accusation is a cliché for anyone who is picked up from the street: "You burned the bus", "You broke the traffic light", "You broke the glass of the shop".... etc). The boy who was beaten up badly in Al–Naser police station, had a swollen, fire–red face with straight–line bulges on the neck (probably due to hits with a water hose or a cable). When he told his interrogator that he signed a confession in the police station under torture and began showing him the marks on his body, he was slapped on the face 4 or five times. This boy told me that his "crime" was walking alone on his way home, when 3 civilian–dressed officers approached him and started beating him and telling him that he "burned the bus".

After a 2–hour wait in Preventive Security, we were transferred to the prison of the Main Police Station in Al–Abdali were we spent our night.

The State Security Court: Morning, Wednesday, April 10, 2002

Around 11:30 am, Engineer Shadi Mdanat and myself were transported alone in a prison truck to Marka. We understood from the officers accompanying us that we were referred to the State Security Court on the charge of "distributing rumors that are harmful to the state's reputation". Until now, we were denied contacting anyone, and we were NOT officially told what our charges are.

The State Security Court Prosecutor refused the case. So we were taken back to the police station. From there, we were taken to the Governor's office who ordered that we be detained for 14 days. We were then transferred to Al–Jweideh Prison.

The Welcoming Ceremony in Al–Jweideh Prison: Evening, Wednesday, April 10, 2002

We were six individuals in the prison truck heading to Al–Jweideh Prison, all of us imprisoned upon the orders of the Governor (no charges are made, no lawyer or court can intervene). The other four were detained on the background of pro–Intifada marches and demonstrations. They were: A taxi driver, two shop owners and a friend of one of the latter.

Once we came down from the truck, we entered a room (every three together) and were ordered to undress completely, put our hands over our heads, and move (from the knee joint) vertically up and down for about thirty times. During this "exercise", the officer present started hitting one of the shop owners with his foot, then he ordered him to kneel down and kiss the ground, which he did amidst the fear and beating.

Then we were taken inside the prison and welcomed by a greeting: "You are the demonstrators, huh? Wait and you'll see". Into another room, we were ordered to undress again, then an officer holding a cable wrapped with an adhesive tape started hitting those inside the room one by one on the hands and all over the body, taking about a minute for each person. I was spared this episode as I told him what my charges were.

Then we moved to an adjacent room where everybody got their hair cut completely, then pick a blue trousers and top from a dirty pile on the ground. The other four were continuously beaten and slapped through out this process.

The six of us then were pushed to the prison yard (visiting area). Shadi and me were put aside, then an officer holding a plastic club started hitting the other four very fiercely on all parts of their body, then he was joined by another officer with a cable. The "yard ceremony" lasted for around 5 minutes, with screams and begging that drew no attention at all but rather intensified the beating. What drew my attention was the presence of the Prison DOCTOR who sat on a couch watching.

Then, three low rank policemen accompanied us to our ward with a special recommendation to "take good care of us". Midway to the ward, the three officers stopped us, moved Shadi and me to one side, and started practicing Karate on the other four. High jumps, back kicks, slaps, and all sorts of as–seen–on–TV maneuvers with special attention to the head area. To me, this was the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen in my life.

After this show–off, we walked towards our ward (ward D), lined in front of the door of our room (room 18), and each one (including me and Shadi) received a welcoming one slap on the face from the ward officer, and entered the room.

A Prison Ward or a Dissecting Room? Thursday, April 11 to Sunday April 14, 2002

We woke up Thursday on 5:00 am for "counting", a regular procedure done on a daily basis. There were 61 prisoners in the room, 8 of them were charged, the others are (like me) all held without any charge upon the orders of the Governor. The number of prisoners rose to 68 on the evening of Saturday, April 13.

The room is not equipped to hold such a number; so most detainees shared beds (two on each bed). The room was below the level of the ground, humidity very high, cold, and with a ceiling that donates drops of water on a regular basis.

As the sun rose, an officer called for the "new" prisoners. The six of us were ordered to go up to the prison yard again. There, Shadi and me were ordered to go back to our room. The others came 15 minutes later with red faces. They were beaten yet another time.

I started talking with the inmates, and got to know their stories and their injuries:

Most of them have been detained for about a week in Jweideh Prison, before that they were detained for one or two days in the prisons of local police stations in Al–Naser, Al–Ashrafeyyeh, Al–Baq'a, Al–Mohajireen, Al–Shmeisani ... etc.

Age: 18–27. Regular, plain young men, without any political orientations, some participated in one or two marches, most never marched or demonstrated in his life.

Nearly all told the same story: One of them was walking with his mother and sister in Ras Al–Ein, another was on his way to the nearby supermarket in Nazzal, another was driving his car with his friends on his way to Friday prayers in Al–Rabiyeh, another was in his car on his way to buy some food for his wife's relatives who are staying at her room in hospital in Jabal Amman, another was inside his shop in Wihdat, another was a taxi driver in his cab, another was the passenger... and so on. Three or four civilian dressed security agents would approach each one of them, start beating them, and then put them in a police car/bus were the beating continues. In the police station, they are severely beaten with clubs, belts, hands, and feet. Many of them reported being beaten individually by 10–14 policemen at a time. Some reported being beaten on a "taking shifts" basis. One person reported being welcomed at Al–Mohajireen Police Station by two rows of fully geared anti–riot police extending all the way from the bus to the entrance of the police station.

Injuries: The following was directly seen and investigated by myself inside the prison.

• ALL those inside the room had severe bruises (red, blue, brown and yellow) all over their bodies, many of which was straight–line markings of cables and hoses. Two had stitched wounds in the head