The Guest of the Governor

I found the Jordan Times article, May 27^th, about administrative detention particularly disturbing. The inset about the longest serving guest of a Governor,  who has been in administrative detention since 1987 and is still there after 22 years, is absolutely mind-boggling. I know that a woman may be put in protective custody if she is likely to become an ‘honor crime’ victim – but when the governor says that, “Your family knows you are innocent, but the problem is that people talk.”  So this woman whose life has already been destroyed continues to stay in prison because people talk! I wonder about the power this governor may be able to exercise. Obviously, he has the power to keep her in Jweida Correctional Centre, but not the power to threaten the family with severe punishment if they harm her should she return home. I would be interested in knowing what laws in Jordan actually allow this gross injustice to take place. It seems that she has no recourse in the law and is a victim of the state instead of her family.  And all agree that she is innocent, but people talk.

ASH