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AMMAN: The trial of a Jordanian journalist accused of criticizing the authorities and King Abdullah II on social media has opened in the capital Amman, his lawyer said Monday.
Adnan Al-Rousan, 71, is accused of “inciting conflict, sowing division... spreading false news that harm the prestige of the state, slandering an official body and humiliating a civil servant,” lawyer Assem Al-Omari told AFP.
He appeared in court on Sunday and “denied the charges against him,” Omari added.
He said his client had been detained for a week and would remain under arrest until another hearing next Sunday.
Rousan, who has around 37,000 followers on Facebook, is being prosecuted over comments he published last month, Omari said.
He allegedly criticized “the king’s endless foreign trips... which are becoming ridiculous” and urged attention be paid to the country’s Bedouin tribes.
He is also being prosecuted over an article published late last month in which he allegedly accused the king of employing officials and their “children and grandchildren, awarding them bonuses and money from our pockets and not his, while our children cannot find work.”
Jordan is experiencing an economic crisis and its unemployment rate reached around 25 percent last year, according to official figures, and double that among young people.
The poverty rate has risen to 24 percent and public debt exceeded $51 billion — more than 110 percent of GDP — in the first six months of this year.