AMMAN - Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Jordan on Tuesday to end its "widespread" use of administrative detention and to abolish a 1954 law which the watchdog says opens the way to abuse.
"The government's widespread use of administrative detention fundamentally undermines the rule of law in Jordan," the New York-based group said in a 56-page report, "Guests of the Governor: Administrative Detention Undermines Rule of Law in Jordan."
More than 10,000 new cases of administrative detention are recorded every year, and administrative detainees account for one in five inmates in Jordanian prisons, according to the report.
Jordan's National Centre for Human Rights found that officials ordered administrative detention in 11,870 cases last year.
"Ministry of interior officials abuse their powers of administrative detention to lock up persons in an arbitrary manner" and without judicial review, the report said.
"Governors and other high officials shouldn't be able to lock people up on vague suspicions of improper behaviour," Joe Stork, HRW deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.
"This is an invitation to abuse."
The "Crime Prevention Law" of 1954 allows governors to start procedures against persons who are "about to commit a crime or assist in its commission," those who "habitually" steal, shelter thieves, or fence stolen goods, and anyone who would constitute a "danger to the people," HRW said.
"The government has ignored calls over the past four years by Jordanian rights activists, including the National Centre for Human Rights, to review the practice of administrative detention," said the statement.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
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