A Jordanian student sentenced to two years in prison over IM

According to the Next Web – Middle East, citing the Ammannet website, a Jordanian computer engineering student, by the name of Imad Al-Ash, has been arrested since February, 2010, and sentenced on July 13th, 2010, by state security court to two years in prison over charges of lèse majesté for sending an IM (Instant Message) to his friend:

The IM by Al-Ash allegedly contained words that “insulted the supreme entities” (translated from Arabic) known to others as His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan. Amongst the charges were also allegations of participation in public online forums expressing ‘controversial religious opinions’, none of which the court had substantial proof of, as expressed by his attorney.

According to a statement provided by his father to Ammannet, the college student was submitted to torture during the five months investigation carried out by the Security Services and was forced to confess crimes which he never committed.

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