1997 — Several political parties, associations and leading figures boycott parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood party along with eight out of 19 parties, the professional associations, the Jordanian Women's Union and 80 politically and socially significant people decide not to run for or vote in the elections. Along with advocating for a constitutional reform with a separation of powers, they also call to cancel the one-man, one-vote law and replace it with a more modern law that guarantees free and fair elections, where citizens are able to choose the deputies who truly represent them. Dialogue between the government and the boycotting parties proves fruitless, and elections are carried out but with a significant political boycott.
Jan. 26, 1998 — The Supreme Court suspends the May 1997 amendment to the 1993 Press Law, and clears the way for 13 newspapers to resume publishing. The court decides the amendments are unconstitutional because they are enforced without the approval of the Jordanian Parliament. Article 19 of the 1993 Press Law continues to support the demands of non-governmental organizations to be involved in drafting a new press law, which guarantees fundamental rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
Feb. 7, 1999 — Shortly after his father dies, Prince Abdullah ibn-al Hussein is sworn in as king of Jordan.
October 2001 — King Abdullah sanctions the Ali Abul Ragheb-led government's temporary press restrictions immediately after they are quietly introduced without public or parliamentary debate. The amendments give government authorities increasing powers to jail journalists for up to six months, fine them for as much as US$7,000, and shut down publications that print "false or libelous information that can undermine national unity or the country's reputation," "aggravate basic social norms," "sow the seeds of hatred," or "harm the honor or reputation of individuals," among several other restrictions. The Penal Code article in the new amendment has been extended to criminalize "insulting the dignity of the king" by specifying a jail term of up to three years, along with a fine as much as 5,000 Jordanian dinars (US$7,100) for anyone insulting the King, attributing false statements to the King in print, in cartoons, or on the Internet.
March 3, 2002 — The state security court bans the March 4 edition of a weekly publication, Al-Majd, unless it agrees to remove two articles about alleged government corruption, as they do not comply with the Penal Code. One of the articles describes a large-scale financial scandal while the other criticizes former internal security chief Samih El-Bateekhi. Critics decry what they view as the court acting arbitrarily by censoring Al Majd and not granting it a hearing, trial or any other form of litigation.
In January, the editor of Al-Majd, Fahd al-Rimawi, is detained for two days and charged with allegedly publishing false news in a number of Al-Majd articles that criticize the Ali Aboul Ragheb-led government.
May 16, 2002 — Toujan Faisal, Jordan's first female lawmaker, is convicted of slandering the government. She is charged with harming the government's reputation in an open letter accusing the prime minister of financial misconduct, bribery and corruption. She is sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Faisal is the most well-known dissident of the government to be sent to jail since King Abdullah's accession to the throne. She has become a leading advocate of free speech, has supported an end to political detention and vehemently attacks violations against human rights.
June 2002 — Jordanian Prime Minister, Ali Abul Ragheb, heads a meeting of a legal committee responsible for reviewing a draft law on illegal acquisition of funds. A new version of the draft proposes that parliamentarians be included in a wider category of public officials who have to disclose their assets to a special department. The minister of Justice and minister of State for Legal Affairs, Faris Nabulis, drafts the legislation.
August 2002 — Jordan claims a program on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV insulted its royal family. Jordan shuts down Al-Jazeera's office in Amman and summons its ambassador in Qatar to return to Jordan.
June 17, 2003 — Jordanians vote for a new Parliament. Allies of King Abdullah win more than 50 percent of the seats in the parliamentary elections. Unlike many Arab legislatures, Jordan's Parliament can block bills and dismiss a prime minister and his Cabinet.
April 2004 — Eight Islamic militants are sentenced to death for killing a senior U.S. diplomat, Laurence, Foley in 2002. Foley was gunned down outside of his home in Amman, and his murder was the first assassination of a Western diplomat in Jordan in 2002.
November 2004 — Investigations carried out by the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) find that many businesses were willing to give Saddam Hussein's government huge sums of money in return for Oil for Food contracts while Iraq was under the sanctions regime. Jordanian financial institutions alone processed US$100 million of fraudulent contracts, according to the probe carried out by BBC.
The revenue from the Oil for Food program, a system administered by the United Nations allowing Iraq to export oil despite the sanctions, went into accounts audited by the U.N. to spend on food and medicines to improve living conditions in Iraq. Saddam managed to embezzle as much US$21 billion in this financial scandal. The embezzled money was paid by businesses to Iraqi officials in the form of bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the oil contracts. The Jordanian businesses, trading with Iraq, routinely paid surcharges of 10 percent of the value of the deal. According to BBC, the money was allegedly transferred to the Jordanian branches of the Iraqi National Bank. Most of the deals, however, involved Russian and Middle Eastern firms.
The United Nations has blamed the United States and the United Kingdom for turning a blind eye on this financial scandal, especially because they were heavily supervising the region with U.S. and British military jets regularly patrolling the skies of Northern Iraq. Their silence with respect to the illegal smuggling of oil into Jordan and Turkey is explained by their political allegiance and favorable diplomatic relationship with them.
April 10, 2005 — Security authorities delay publication of the April 10 edition of Al-Wihda, a weekly paper, until an article written by journalist Muwaffaq Mahadin is removed. The article criticizes how Prime Minister Adnan Badran's government was formed, claiming its elections were undemocratic. Al-Wihda is allowed to publish only after Mahadin's article is excluded from the edition.
Feb. 4, 2006 — A Jordanian tabloid editor, Jihad Momani, is arrested after his newspaper, Shihan, publishes controversial cartoon drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.
June 8, 2006 — Abu Qudama, brother-in-law of a terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is interviewed by Al-Jazeera in al-Zarqa, north of Amman, when security services abruptly enter the premises, halt the interview and arrest Qudama. Al Jazeera reporter Yasser Abu Hilala, his crew along with a CBS freelance correspondent and cameraman, waiting to interview Qudama, are briefly detained, and their equipment is confiscated.
June 11, 2006 — Four lawmakers are arrested because they visited the slain terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's family. They are charged with "instigating sectarian strike" and "fueling national discord."
April 2007 — The Jordanian government seizes a taped Al-Jazeera interview with former Prince Hassan bin Talal. Shortly after the interview, Jordanian Intelligence authorities stop the producer of Al-Jazeera at Amman's Queen Alia Airport where they confiscate the videotape along with pictures taken of Prince Hassan during the interview.
In the interview conducted by Ghassan Benjeddou, Al-Jazeera's bureau chief in Beirut, the prince spoke critically of Saudi Arabia and American policies in the Middle East. Hassan asserted Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was officially financing Sunni militants to tackle the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, was critical of Arab governments cooperating with the United States in targeting Iran and criticized Arab leaders for stimulating friction between Sunnis and Shiites.
April 30, 2007 — Security agents prevent printing of the weekly Al-Majd's April 30 edition because of a front page story about a "secret plan" to overthrow the Hamas-led Palestinian government. The article discloses what it claims is a 16-page secret plan, devised by the United States and unnamed Arab allies, that will enable Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to oust the rival Hamas-led Palestinian government from power. Security officials ban the entire edition because the article is not removed.
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