Jordanian authorities released cartoonist Emad Hajjaj on Sunday. Arrested for a drawing on the agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the Emirates, he will however be tried for "slander and defamation", said a judicial source.
Accused of having "produced writings likely to disturb relations with a friendly country", the designer now faces between six months and two years in prison. He was released after the State Security Court amended the charge against him.
Let's stand with Emad Hajjaj, who recently got arrested, by using #FreeEmadHajjaj hashtag. He won an award from Dubai Press Club and doesn't have any disputes with UAE. He drew a caricature that shows a ruler stabbing the Palestinians in the back. pic.twitter.com/wewJ2uzdby
- ياسر أبوهلالة (@abuhilalah) August 26, 2020A review of the F-35 sale
The president of the country's journalists' union said he would appear before the general prosecutor in Amman and no longer before the military court in charge of terrorism cases. The date of his trial has not been specified.
His arrest was condemned by human rights groups. This case "only confirms that Jordan seeks to muzzle citizens who speak freely," the deputy director of the regional office of Human Rights Watch denounced on Friday.
Emad Hajjaj was arrested on Wednesday, a few hours after the publication of his cartoon on the Internet. The design shows the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi wearing a dove in the colors of the Israeli flag and spitting in his face. Since the normalization agreement between Israel and the Emirates on August 13, the possible sale of American F-35 fighter jets to the Emirates remains a sensitive issue.
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