Rights group says detainees abused in Jordan

AMMAN, Sep 20 (Reuters) Human Rights Watch have accused Jordan's powerful General Intelligence Department (GID) of arbitrary arrests, detention without charge and abuse of detainees.

In a report, ''Suspicious Sweeps. The General Intelligence Department and Jordan's Rule of Law Problems'', the US-based rights group said detainees were denied an independent judicial review and were often unaware why they were kept in detention.

''Jordan's General Intelligence Department frequently carries out arbitrary arrests and abuses suspects in its own detention facility,'' said the report. ''Many suspects are held in incommunicado detention but never charged with a crime and eventually released without trial''.

Jordan denies any systematic violation of prisoners' rights.

A spokesman said the government would study the report.

The report cited 16 cases of individuals arrested by the department, 14 of whom said they were either tortured or ill-treated during the arrest.

HRW group researcher Christoph Wilcke said most of the 16 detainees were Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest political movement, says it faces a state campaign to curb its growing influence.

Security officials in the kingdom, a staunch US ally, say a rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-American sentiment following the invasion of Iraq. Last November, 60 people were killed in hotel suicide bombings claimed by militant islamists.

Human Rights Watch said GID officials denied any violations, but Wilcke disagreed, saying 13 of the detainees were released without being sent to court.

''When they tell me about their time in the detention facility, they do not have any stake in claiming abuses that did not happen -- as might be the case with people who go on trial,'' he told a news conference.

''Not a single person has told me that the interrogators have presented them with material evidence during the interrogation sessions,'' he added.

Wilcke criticised the GID for detaining people for at least a week before allowing them to contact lawyers or families.

In June, the UN special investigator on torture said evidence surfaced during a fact finding mission to the kingdom that torture was systematically practised in Jordan's two top security prisons, one of which was run by the GID.

''It is normal for a country, unfortunately, that sometimes there are violations. What is also normal is that these allegations are investigated... This does not happen in Jordan,'' said Wilcke.

REUTERS DKS BST0445