Rights group says torture widespread in Jordan

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - The torture of prisoners remains widespread in Jordanian jails despite efforts to reform the system, a U.S. rights group said on Wednesday, adding prison officials were rarely held accountable for abuses,

The findings released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) were based on visits to seven of Jordan's 10 prisons and interviews with 110 inmates and senior prison officials. The majority of prisoners complained of abuse.

"Torture remains a tolerated practice in Jordan's prisons because mechanisms for individual accountability are lacking," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of HRW, told reporters at the launch of the 95-page report.

Jordanian security officials have denied any systematic violations of prisoners' rights. A close U.S. ally in its war on terrorism, Jordan borders Israel, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Over the last few years Jordan has witnessed a rise in top security detainees protesting poor prison conditions and ill treatment. The protests were quelled by force.

In 2006 the country embarked on a prison reform program and sought international aid to improve prison conditions, promising to spend millions of dollars to ease overcrowding in its jails.

Chrisptoph Wilcke, a researcher at HRW, said torture methods include beatings with electric cables and truncheons and hanging inmates in cuffs for long periods.

The rights group said that although torture and ill-treatment of prisons did not reflect a general policy, individual prison directors, high ranking guards and special forces dealing with prison riots have ordered and participated in large scale beatings.

Jordan should redirect its efforts to reform its prison toward increased accountability for abuses by security authorities, the report said in its recommendations.

The country has a prison population of about 6,000, including some who belonged to al Qaeda and those who have been sentenced for attacks against Israeli, American and other Western targets.

HRW said the authorities failed to prosecute any prison officials after three inmates were killed and scores wounded at a Jordanian prison last April when riots broke leading to widespread ransacking and prisoners lighting fires.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; editing by Matthew Jones)