Comments on: Imprisoning The Digital Word; The Case Of Ahmed Oweidi http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/ A Jordanian Blog Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:12:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: hatem abunimeh http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-88762 hatem abunimeh Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:47:00 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-88762 Up date, According to this report http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=2358 published in the Jordan Times on Friday, September 21, 2007. Abbadi states that he was framed and had “no knowledge of the contents of the letter or that it existed”. Abbadi, who stressed that he is devoted to Jordan, its leadership and the people and has written 75 books on the Kingdom, claimed that “hackers entered the website and published the letter to set me up”. Up date,

According to this report http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=2358 published in the Jordan Times on Friday, September 21, 2007. Abbadi states that he was framed and had “no knowledge of the contents of the letter or that it existed”.

Abbadi, who stressed that he is devoted to Jordan, its leadership and the people and has written 75 books on the Kingdom, claimed that “hackers entered the website and published the letter to set me up”.

]]> By: hatem abunimeh http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82652 hatem abunimeh Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:13:57 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82652 AlurduniAlhurr, اول شي اسمي حاتم مش هيثم ثاني شي في فرج كبير بين الحكي من جهه وبين القدح والذم والتشهير من جهة ثانيه ثالث شي خلي القضاء يو خذ مجراه AlurduniAlhurr,

اول شي اسمي حاتم مش هيثم ثاني شي في فرج كبير بين الحكي من جهه وبين القدح والذم والتشهير من جهة ثانيه ثالث شي خلي القضاء يو خذ مجراه

]]> By: AlurduniAlhurr http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82636 AlurduniAlhurr Sun, 19 Aug 2007 07:20:39 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82636 ماشاالله عليك ياهيثم وعلي افكارك يعني يا رجل ملكك نفسه بتكلم عن الفساد في ألاردن الحبيب،يعني هو الاردن نازل من عند ربنا،مكل الناس بتتكلم علي الفساد والرشوات الي يتصير عن جنب وطرف من الاساس الي الراس،ووا صار لواواحد زي العبادي صار يحكي عن الاختلاس والرشوات ماشاالله عليك ياهيثم وعلي افكارك يعني يا رجل ملكك نفسه بتكلم عن الفساد في ألاردن الحبيب،يعني هو الاردن نازل من عند ربنا،مكل الناس بتتكلم علي الفساد والرشوات الي يتصير عن جنب وطرف من الاساس الي الراس،ووا صار لواواحد زي العبادي صار يحكي عن الاختلاس والرشوات

]]> By: hatem abunimeh http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82599 hatem abunimeh Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:05:13 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82599 Nas, Abbadi is charged by the government with slander, the charge alleges that he falsely accused the regime/ royal court of corruption. It is considered a libelous statement when one falsely accuses another entity of misconduct, in his case the government considered his invidious statements defamatory. It is now incumbent upon him to prove that the statements he made were true, and if he isn’t able to prove them then in all likelihood will be convicted. His case is very much similar to Toujan Fisal case when she made some accusatory statements against the former Prime Minister Abu Raghib. Abbadi like Fisal needs to learn to speak only if can substantiate his allegations with concrete facts, otherwise, the long arm of the law will get him and he will go to jail which isn’t a very nice place for any one to be. Nas,

Abbadi is charged by the government with slander, the charge alleges that he falsely accused the regime/ royal court of corruption. It is considered a libelous statement when one falsely accuses another entity of misconduct, in his case the government considered his invidious statements defamatory. It is now incumbent upon him to prove that the statements he made were true, and if he isn’t able to prove them then in all likelihood will be convicted. His case is very much similar to Toujan Fisal case when she made some accusatory statements against the former Prime Minister Abu Raghib. Abbadi like Fisal needs to learn to speak only if can substantiate his allegations with concrete facts, otherwise, the long arm of the law will get him and he will go to jail which isn’t a very nice place for any one to be.

]]> By: Mohanned http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82578 Mohanned Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:45:34 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82578 huh? huh?

]]> By: /The Poor Arab News Service http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82526 /The Poor Arab News Service Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:56:50 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82526 ""But when you open our papers you will always see attacks on relatively democratic states such are countries in europe the US of A and israel.."" Mohannad,,,you mean ,they have also democratic occupation? I just can't believe how Western educated Arab spin the truth,you are perfect example of classical Arab Orientalist. “”But when you open our papers you will always see attacks on relatively democratic states such are countries in europe the US of A and israel..”"
Mohannad,,,you mean ,they have also democratic occupation?
I just can’t believe how Western educated Arab spin the truth,you are perfect example of classical Arab Orientalist.

]]> By: Mohanned http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82380 Mohanned Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:47:08 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82380 Hani, What upsets you upsets me too, but if you want to look carefully the only countires that we are not allowed to critisize in our papers in jordan are those countires who lack democracy, for example KSA, UAE, syria, Egypt, etc...Maybe except for lebanon..But when you open our papers you will always see attacks on relatively democratic states such are countries in europe the US of A and israel.. Two days ago the an Iraqi official which they claim that iraq is a democracy came to jordan and demanded that the jordanian government should control its media and not attack malikies government...Something to think about.. Hani,
What upsets you upsets me too, but if you want to look carefully the only countires that we are not allowed to critisize in our papers in jordan are those countires who lack democracy, for example KSA, UAE, syria, Egypt, etc…Maybe except for lebanon..But when you open our papers you will always see attacks on relatively democratic states such are countries in europe the US of A and israel..

Two days ago the an Iraqi official which they claim that iraq is a democracy came to jordan and demanded that the jordanian government should control its media and not attack malikies government…Something to think about..

]]> By: Hani Obaid http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82361 Hani Obaid Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:14:46 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82361 Urduni, perhaps, but we all already know there are no true democracies in this region. Mind you, not that true democracies are perfect either. Hitler was elected democratically, and so was George W. My point was, this guy knew what he was getting into when he did this, perhaps it would have been enough to give him a warning. What upsets me is when some poor journalists writes an article about another country and they get arrested under the (jeopardizing relations with a friendly country) law. Urduni, perhaps, but we all already know there are no true democracies in this region.

Mind you, not that true democracies are perfect either. Hitler was elected democratically, and so was George W.

My point was, this guy knew what he was getting into when he did this, perhaps it would have been enough to give him a warning.

What upsets me is when some poor journalists writes an article about another country and they get arrested under the (jeopardizing relations with a friendly country) law.

]]> By: alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82240 alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:31:27 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82240 "‘Abbadi, who is indeed a xenophobic idiotic clown, when he was ranting about the King’s excesses in front of local students and foreign researchers." urduni,,,He was not arrested because he was a xenophobic idiotic clown,he was arrested because he told the truth about the King's corruptions. “‘Abbadi, who is indeed a xenophobic idiotic clown, when he was ranting about the King’s excesses in front of local students and foreign researchers.”
urduni,,,He was not arrested because he was a xenophobic idiotic clown,he was arrested because he told the truth about the King’s corruptions.

]]> By: Urduni http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82165 Urduni Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:08:08 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82165 Nix that, Hani. If you live in an ABSOLUTE monarchy and you criticize the monarch, you are asking for it. Constitutional monarchs have no legal prerogative to abrogate individual rights in response to scathing criticism. Absolute monarchs, on the other hand, use their control of the internal security agencies to punish those who dare embarrass them in front of their friends. Nobody cared about 'Abbadi, who is indeed a xenophobic idiotic clown, when he was ranting about the King's excesses in front of local students and foreign researchers. But now that he is trying to reach political figures in Washington directly, he arouses anger. Not that he will succeed; his "letter" is poorly worded, his "website" has no value, and his "publications" beyond his historical works (which, by the way, are not all that bad if you go for tribal social history) have no standards behind them. But the point is that you should be able to criticize the powers that be, even with false allegations, in a true democratic system. It is only when the powers-that-be preemptively silence you that you know that "democracy" exists in word only. Nix that, Hani. If you live in an ABSOLUTE monarchy and you criticize the monarch, you are asking for it. Constitutional monarchs have no legal prerogative to abrogate individual rights in response to scathing criticism. Absolute monarchs, on the other hand, use their control of the internal security agencies to punish those who dare embarrass them in front of their friends. Nobody cared about ‘Abbadi, who is indeed a xenophobic idiotic clown, when he was ranting about the King’s excesses in front of local students and foreign researchers. But now that he is trying to reach political figures in Washington directly, he arouses anger. Not that he will succeed; his “letter” is poorly worded, his “website” has no value, and his “publications” beyond his historical works (which, by the way, are not all that bad if you go for tribal social history) have no standards behind them. But the point is that you should be able to criticize the powers that be, even with false allegations, in a true democratic system. It is only when the powers-that-be preemptively silence you that you know that “democracy” exists in word only.

]]> By: Hani Obaid http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82164 Hani Obaid Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:56:49 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82164 Scholar or not, if you live in a monarchy, and you criticize the monarch, you're pretty much asking for it. I'd agree with you, he's crazy. Scholar or not, if you live in a monarchy, and you criticize the monarch, you’re pretty much asking for it. I’d agree with you, he’s crazy.

]]> By: Nas http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82060 Nas Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:28:15 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82060 urduni: that's the article i posted in this post :-D urduni: that’s the article i posted in this post :-D

]]> By: alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82057 alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:10:50 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82057 Here is the story from LA times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-scholar14aug14,1,4953436.story?coll=la-headlines-" rel="nofollow">Jordan scholar imprisoned for e-mails</a> Here is the story from LA times Jordan scholar imprisoned for e-mails

]]> By: Pheras Hilal http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82043 Pheras Hilal Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:12:47 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82043 Yes Naseem, I received the same article today from a friend and it really upset me (especially that I've been raving about Jordan to convince that friend to come to Amman and leave LA!). What's scary is that this is one of the few cases where a person is imprisoned for online contact, and that breeds some level of self-censorship on us bloggers. Yes, this is how the IAF grew in popularity: Simply because the government opposed the party so fiercely that the public tended to side with the IAF. I really hope that this case is resolved without inflicting any damage on Oweidi.. But I guess this is how things work: We take one big step forward, then such events take us one step backwards. When will we learn? Yes Naseem, I received the same article today from a friend and it really upset me (especially that I’ve been raving about Jordan to convince that friend to come to Amman and leave LA!). What’s scary is that this is one of the few cases where a person is imprisoned for online contact, and that breeds some level of self-censorship on us bloggers.

Yes, this is how the IAF grew in popularity: Simply because the government opposed the party so fiercely that the public tended to side with the IAF. I really hope that this case is resolved without inflicting any damage on Oweidi..

But I guess this is how things work: We take one big step forward, then such events take us one step backwards. When will we learn?

]]> By: Nas http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82036 Nas Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:20:38 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82036 mohanned: thanks...his son's name kept repeating in my head urduni: yeah we know :S mohanned: thanks…his son’s name kept repeating in my head

urduni: yeah we know :S

]]> By: alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82022 alurdunialhurr/ألاردني الحر Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:34:54 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82022 Ahmed Owaidi Al Abadi was arrested and jailed because his letter to US majority Democratic leader Harry Reid,detailing King Abdullah's corruption and human violation record. Ahmed Owaidi Al Abadi was arrested and jailed because his letter to US majority Democratic leader Harry Reid,detailing King Abdullah’s corruption and human violation record.

]]> By: Mohanned http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82016 Mohanned Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:42:49 +0000 http://www.black-iris.com/2007/08/14/imprisoning-the-digital-word-the-case-of-ahmed-oweidi/#comment-82016 His name is Ahmed Owiedi El Abbadi, not bisher.. :) His name is Ahmed Owiedi El Abbadi, not bisher..
:)

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