Toughening Terrorism Penalties in Jordan .. 5 “Anticipated” Legal Changes

Al-Taj News – By Wafaa Sabeeh

From combining penalties to canceling early release.. What awaits those convicted of terrorism in Jordan?
Legal expert to “Al-Taj”: Amendments to the terrorism law move punitive policy in Jordan to a new stage

In response to popular demands to toughen legal procedures against those involved in terrorism cases, the government approved a package of legislative amendments aimed at aggravating the penalties resulting from these crimes, and granted them an “urgent” status in preparation for referring them to the House of Representatives within two weeks, for discussion in accordance with constitutional procedures.

The proposed amendments carry a number of transformations in the punitive policy followed in dealing with terrorist crimes, not limited to increasing sentence terms, but extending to the execution mechanism of penalties, conditions for early release, and supervisory measures following the end of the sentence term.

In a legal reading of the draft’s details, lawyer Dr. Sakher Al-Khasawneh stated that the proposed amendments to legislation related to terrorism crimes include fundamental changes in the sanctions system, most notably raising the minimum limits of prescribed penalties, so that the prison sentence in some cases rises from five years to ten years, and from ten years to fifteen years in other cases, while penalties in specific crimes reach execution (death penalty).

Al-Khasawneh explained during his talk to “Al-Taj News” that among the most prominent proposed amendments is changing the mechanism for executing penalties in case of multiple crimes, through adopting the principle of combining sentence terms instead of being content with executing the harsher penalty, as is currently applied in some cases according to enforceable legislation.

He demonstrated that the proposal stipulates executing each penalty separately in the event of multiple sentences issued against the person for different acts, so that sentence terms are combined and executed consecutively, instead of merging lesser penalties into the harsher penalty, which means that the convicted person will serve the total terms of sentences issued against them, a matter that may result in their remaining in reform and rehabilitation centers for long periods that may extend to decades, depending on the number of crimes and sentenced penalties.

Al-Khasawneh pointed out that the amendments also include excluding those convicted in terrorism cases from benefiting from early release provisions associated with good behavior, in addition to changing the mechanism for calculating the sentence term, so that the prison year becomes twelve full months, instead of the possibility of releasing the inmate after serving three-quarters of the sentence term.

He noted that Article 34 of the Reform and Rehabilitation Centers Law No. 9 of 2004 and its amendments, in its enforceable version, stipulates the possibility of releasing an inmate sentenced to imprisonment for a month or more, or to detention, or to hard labor, after serving three-quarters of their sentence term, provided that legal requirements related to good behavior and compliance with internal regulations are met.

He added that this rule allows – if conditions are met – releasing the person sentenced to one year in prison after serving nine months, which is known as calculating the prison year as nine months; however, the proposed amendments exclude those convicted in terrorism cases from this feature, and obligate them to serve the full sentence term without benefiting from early release.

Regarding the post-sentence phase, Al-Khasawneh explained that the draft amendment includes imposing supervisory and precautionary measures on those convicted after executing the sentences issued against them, in cases that warrant it, aiming to deal with the danger that may persist even after their release.

He confirmed that these amendments reflect an orientation toward reorganizing punitive policy in terrorism crimes, through toughening sentence terms, changing the rules for executing sentences, restricting benefit from early release, in addition to expanding the scope of precautionary measures to include the post-sentence phase.