On 4 and 5 September 2018, the IRZ in cooperation with the Jordanian prison authority organised a seminar on the “Classification of prisoners and enforcement plans” and the “Involvement of external parties representing the state and civil society in the social reintegration process”. This seminar took place as part of a Transformation partnership project on judicial training as a stabilising element of the rule of law in Jordan, which is being supported by the German Foreign Office and coordinated by the IRZ between 2017 and 2019.
The IRZ has maintained a very close and trusting working relationship for several years now with the Correction and Rehabilitation Centres Department at the Jordanian police, which ensured that this seminar took place in the usual pleasant and open working atmosphere. The seminar was opened by the newly appointed Director General of the Jordanian prison authority, Brigadier Ayman Al Awaysheh, who also participated throughout the entire event.
The following German representatives reported on the practices of the Berlin prison system:
Johanna Schmid, Department III Law Enforcement at the Berlin Senate for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-discrimination, and
Benjamin Horn, a social worker at the Berlin young offenders’ institution (criminal field: Admissions department - diagnosis).
The representatives from the Jordanian side were:
Colonel Ahed Al Sharaydeh, Director of the Training Institute for Jordanian penal institutions and
Major Ghazi Al Maaliah, Trainer at the Training Institute.
Over two working days, the participants discussed practical issues from the Jordanian and German point of view, with regard to the classification of prisoners and the development of enforcement and integration plans, as well as the involvement of external parties in the social reintegration process. Particular attention was paid to the question of dealing with religiously radicalised prisoners and preventing radicalisation in prisons, since this is a topic that has become increasingly significant in the German prison system as well.
Participants from the Jordanian prison system included the director of the Jordanian prison authority, the heads of Jordanian detention facilities and the director and employees of the training academy for Jordanian penal institutions. The state agencies involved in the social reintegration process were represented by people from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
Parties not representing the government included representatives from the following institutions:
the Jordanian National Centre for Human Rights,
the national association supporting detention facilities,
the cultural association for the follow-up care of released prisoners and
the society for occupational training.
The existing cooperation between the Jordanian prison authority and non-governmental parties from civil society in the social reintegration process can definitely be expanded to cover a wider basis. All those involved took part in lively, constructive and open discussions on both days of the seminar, which led to numerous ideas for closer collaboration in future.
Experts and participants in the exchange of experiences in Amman Jordan
On 10 and 11 July 2018, an exchange of experiences on international legal cooperation in the field of criminal law took place within the framework of the institutional funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV). This was organised by the IRZ together with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Court of Jordan and the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Amman.
The event was attended on the Jordanian side by some high-ranking participants, including the Secretary General at the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, Ziad Al Dmour, who also gave the opening address on behalf of the Ministry.
As well as the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, the participants also included Jordan’s three Offices of the Public Prosecutors General in Amman, Irbid and Ma’an, as well as the heads of other district prosecutor’s offices. The German experts appointed by the IRZ to take part in the event were Nicolaus Alvino, a local court judge from the BMJV and Senior Public Prosecutor Thomas Junge from the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Berlin. During the two-day discussions, practical questions on major and minor legal assistance were discussed from the German and Jordanian points of view. There were presentations of the legal framework on both sides, individual procedures and responsibilities, the search process and business practices. In the case of extradition proceedings, the presentations covered assurances, detention conditions according to international standards and monitoring.
Using practical examples of cases from Germany and Jordan, the speakers illustrated the various individual topics and tried to provide possible solutions to common problems encountered in practice.
Mutual legal assistance between Germany and Jordan has so far taken place through diplomatic channels. This leads to delays in proceedings, which makes the mutual legal assistance more difficult on both sides. Jordan has already made bilateral extradition agreements with various countries, including the USA, France, Great Britain, Australia and Brazil. Other agreements, e.g. with Romania and Ukraine, are currently being prepared. To make mutual legal assistance with Germany easier, it may be conceivable for Jordan to enter the European extradition agreement. This alternative still needs to be examined by the Jordanians.
During the course of the discussions, it became clear that there are also certain communication problems when it comes to international legal assistance and extradition processes between the various Jordanian parties, in particular between the Ministry of Justice and the public prosecutor’s offices involved. And so the event went beyond a German-Jordanian exchange of experiences to become a forum for discussion involving internal exchange between the Jordanian parties to the proceedings, moderated by the German experts. This was extremely helpful from the point of view of all the Jordanian parties concerned and was welcomed wholeheartedly.
The event fortunately also meant that the IRZ could follow up its existing cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, which should now be intensified still further with other joint events.
On 20 and 21 April 2018, the IRZ together with the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Amman organised a seminar on “Fighting organised crime” to exchange experiences on the fight against terrorism, money laundering and human trafficking on a national and international level. The event was part of a project supporting judicial training as a stabilising element of the rule of law in Jordan, which started in 2017 and is supported by the German Foreign Office as part of the Transformation partnership.
The seminar used German practices to show the potential for applying international standards to the fight against terrorism, money laundering and human trafficking. Within these main focal points, the lectures dealt with the applicable legal framework in each case, the role of criminal investigations and the strategies used by both countries to combat terrorism, money laundering and human trafficking.
The Jordanian participants included representatives from the Office of the Public Prosecutor General in Amman, as well as public prosecutors from other parts of the country. The event was hosted by judge Abdallah Abu Alghanam, Head of the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Amman. Judge Hasan al Nsour, representing the Prosecutor General of Amman, reported on the investigation procedure and international treaties in this area. Jürgen Maurer, former Vice-President of the Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation), and Hans-Dieter Hilken, former Head of the Crime Control Department at the State Office of Criminal Investigations in Rhineland-Palatinate, were the experts representing the IRZ at the two-day seminar.
The participants agreed on the need for extensive international cooperation when it comes to fighting these transnational phenomena. During the lively discussions, all sides emphasised the need for law enforcement authorities to specialise and the development of cooperation between the police and the justice system.
Tight deadlines for investigations and the large number of people involved make it difficult to solve these kinds of crimes in Germany. According to the participants, the main obstacles standing in the way of dealing effectively with organised crime in Jordan are the long duration of cases and uncertainties regarding areas of responsibility. Effective strategies for dealing with those involved in organised crime would include improving cooperation, joint training sessions for law enforcement authorities, clear responsibilities and legal regulations.
The active involvement of all participants in the two-day seminar was proof that the discussions inspired by the seminar were considered to be enriching. To conclude, the Office of the Public Prosecutor General of Amman thanked the IRZ for the extremely valuable exchange of experiences and expressed great interest in organising more events with a practical focus in this area.
