The Right Honourable Awni Yerfas
Minister of Interior
Amman, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
info@moi.gov.jo

8 February 2006

Dear Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the prosecution of newspaper editors Jihad Momani and Hisham Khalidi for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that were first published in Denmark and have caused a storm of Muslim protest around the world.

According to reports, Mr Momani, editor of the weekly Shihan, and Mr Khalidi, editor of al-Mehwar, were arrested on 4 February and detained at the Criminal Investigation Directorate in Amman. They appeared before Amman Public Prosecutor Saber Rawashdeh on 5 February, who charged them with blasphemy in violation of Article 278/1 of the Penalty Law. If convicted, Mr Momani and Mr Khalidi could be sentenced to up to three months in jail.

Shihan printed three of the cartoons alongside an editorial questioning whether the angry reaction of Muslims was justified. Al-Mehwar reproduced the cartoons over a week ago to accompany an article on the condemnation they had sparked. Mr Momani was dismissed by Shihan’s publishers last week.

While appreciating that the cartoons have caused offence to many Muslims in Jordan and elsewhere, we respectfully remind you that the decision as to whether or not to publish such material is an editorial decision and not one with which the state - and in particular the criminal law - should interfere. The cartoons may have been in poor taste, but they were satirical in nature and did not incite violence.

We respectfully remind you that the prosecution of Mr Momani and Mr Khalidi constitutes a clear breach of their right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: ’Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.’

We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that the criminal charges against Mr Momani and Mr Khalidi are immediately dropped. We urge you and your government to set an example to the Muslim world by demonstrating tolerance and engaging in dialogue, rather than succumbing to censorship and repression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

cc : Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.