Two detained for alleged online threats against liberal columnists

AMMAN — Police on Tuesday said they detained two men who allegedly posted direct and indirect threats against two Jordanian columnists on social media over the holiday weekend.

The two suspects, identified as A.Z. and I.Z., were arrested on Monday following a complaint by two liberal columnists via a mobile application, claiming that they had been threatened on social media, a senior police source said.

“We are currently questioning the two individuals and will refer them to the relevant courts for further legal action,” the senior police official told The Jordan Times.

In one Facebook post, A.Z allegedly wrote: “Zuleikha Abu Risheh and Basel  Rafayeh do not provoke people with their religion. We have advised Nahed [Hattar not to do so] a lot.”

Hattar, who was standing trial for sharing a caricature considered insulting to religious beliefs and feelings, was on his way to attend a hearing, accompanied by family members, when he was assassinated in front of the courthouse last September.    

Riad Abdullah, 49, who said he killed Hattar to defend the religion, was convicted by the State Security Court last year and executed in March.

A second man, I.Z., wrote on his Facebook page: “A phenomenon: Are Basel and Zuleikha practising their atheist ideologies only against the Islamic religion or it includes other religions?”

“Describing us as atheists is a dangerous accusation because in our society’s beliefs, atheists and infidels should be killed. This is a direct threat to our lives,” Abu Risheh told The Jordan Times.

Both Abu Risheh and Rafayeh are liberal columnists writing in local dailies. They also use their Facebook pages and other social media outlets to express their views on various social issues, including religion and women's rights.

Shortly after his post went online, A.Z. took down the post from his Facebook page, adding that he had been summoned by the police.

“I received news that these two men, who are both engineers, were arrested and questioned by the police after Basel and I filed a complaint using a mobile application,” Abu Risheh told The Jordan Times.

Abu Risheh said the “threats by these individuals and other comments from their followers surfaced on Facebook shortly after Basel and I wrote statements criticising the newly elected Mayor Ali Abul Sukkar, who is an Islamist, and whose one of his first official actions was to post God’s names on poles and signs in Zarqa”.

“We criticised the action and said that there were more pressing and urgent matters in Zarqa that needed handling than posting God’s names in the city’s streets. Shortly afterwards, we noticed that some people, including these two individuals, posted threats against us,” she added.

Abu Risheh, an activist and feminist, said she was “no stranger to death threats because I am against political Islam and a secularist.”

“This is the third time I receive death threats in over a year by people who oppose my writing on hijab as well as my calling for new explanations of some verses of the Koran,” Abu Risheh explained.  

She added that “there are national steps implemented to support us and anyone who might be subjected to any kind of threat”.

“These kinds of threats will not deter me from writing and carrying my 37-year-old mission to defend my beliefs and ideologies and to criticise the politicising of Islam,” Abu Risheh stressed.

Meanwhile, Rafayeh, who has been living in the United Arab Emirates since 2005, also stressed that “these threats will not deter me from expressing my beliefs”.

“I have been threatened in the past because of my liberal thoughts and the level of threats increased when Nahed Hattar was assassinated, because people with dark thoughts believed that they won when he was killed,” Rafayeh told The Jordan Times.

Some individuals are resorting to threats, according to Rafayeh, “because they reject any criticism of any religious institute or leaders or of the compulsory phenomenon of being religious.”

“Most of my writings focus on separating religion from the state to protect people’s freedoms and rights.  I also defend women’s rights and call for civil and political rights,” Rafayeh added.

This surely angers many, he continued and the “last post I wrote criticising Abul Sukkar’s actions and saying that the municipality is a service and not a religious institute angered many with some sending me private messages threatening to kill me.”

People took to Facebook to express their outrage of the alleged threats against the two columnists.

“I cannot believe this.  Who can stop these people?” Nesreen Malek wrote.

Abdullah Mohammad added: “These people are ticking bombs that could explode at any moment.  We should stop them before they become a landmine that could explode at any moment.”

Meanwhile, other people also used Facebook and other social media outlets to express their objection of Rafayeh and Abu Risheh’s ideas and ideologies.

“Abu Risheh and Basel God damn you and damn people like you,” Ahmad Nofal wrote.

Mutasem Salem added: “These are ruthless people who are seeking fame from their writings.”