Jordanian human rights defenders Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat prevented from travelling abroad
On 31 August 2022, human rights defenders Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat were prevented from travelling from Jordan to Turkey without prior notification.
Ahmed A
l-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat are Jordanian human rights defenders, anti-corruption activists, and members of the Hirak movement, a popular social justice protest movement in Jordan advocating for reform and human rights. Since 2018, the human rights defenders have been prevented from travelling abroad by Jordanian Security Forces, in addition to having restrictions imposed on their right to work.
On 31 August 2022, human rights defenders Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat were prevented from travelling from Jordan to Turkey without prior notification.
Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat are Jordanian human rights defenders, anti-corruption activists, and members of the Hirak movement, a popular social justice protest movement in Jordan advocating for reform and human rights. Since 2018, the human rights defenders have been prevented from travelling abroad by Jordanian Security Forces, in addition to having restrictions imposed on their right to work.
On Wednesday 31 August 2022, security officers at Queen Alia International Airport prevented human rights defenders Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat from travelling to Turkey. Ahmed Al-Neimat was travelling due to his need for medical care while Abdulrahman Shdaifat was accompanying him. These travel restrictions have no legal basis and the human rights defenders were given no additional information or prior notification. Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat were denied the required stamps at the security checkpoint at the airport. They then were taken to an office at the airport where security officers reportedly told them that they were banned from travelling as there are no guarantees that they would not cause harm to the authorities or practice their activism abroad.
In a separate instance on 1 June 2022, Abdulrahman Shdaifat was prevented from travelling from Jordan to Bosnia and Herzegovina to attend a conference. On 5 October 2021, Ahmed Al-Neimat’s wife and children were banned from travelling because of their connection to the human rights defender. Both human rights defenders have been subjected to multiple travel bans since 2018 without any legal basis.
Abdulrahman Shdaifat and Ahmed Al-Neimat have also been facing restrictions violating their right to work and seek employment since 2016 and 2017. In 2016, Abdulrahman Shdaifat’s contract with UNOPS in Jordan was not renewed which he was given no explanation for. The human rights defender believes that his human rights work influenced the non-renewal decision, as this occurred right after he was detained for an investigation in relation to his work on corruption. Later in 2019, he was denied a Good Conduct Certificate from the Jordanian authorities on multiple instances, which he needed to process work visas for two job opportunities he received that year in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia. Authorities have also refused to renew Ahmed Al-Neimat’s taxi driver’s licence without explanation. The human rights defenders licence expired during his detention in 2017 and he subsequently was not able to renew it.
The restrictions on travel and work follows a pattern of harassment by Jordanian authorities of human rights defenders in Jordan. On 5 April 2022, a digital forensic investigation carried out by Front Line Defenders and Citizen lab uncovered Pegasus spyware on the mobile device of Ahmed Al-Neimat, in addition to three other Jordanian human rights defenders.
Front Line Defenders is concerned about the travel and work restrictions imposed on Ahmed Al-Neimat and Abdulrahman Shdaifat, as it believes that they are being targeted solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights.
