The US legal defense team headed by Attorney Abed Ayoub representing Mr. Ali Younes, an American citizen and respected journalist who has been wrongfully detained and is currently prevented fr
om leaving the country of Jordan, is facing criminal charges that could result in his imprisonment.
The basis of the case against Mr. Younes is as troubling as it is outrageous. Jordanian authorities have accused him of undermining Jordanian national security because he allegedly retweeted an article written by another American journalist. Mr. Younes was in the United States when he allegedly retweeted the article.
The charges against Mr.Younes are made-up charges and are intended as a mean of intimidation by the Jordan intelligence department, the General Intelligence Directorate ( GID) which is using Jordanian legal system as an instrument of oppression and crass intimidation of journalists.
To be clear: an American citizen and journalist is facing the possibility of imprisonment in a foreign country because of an alleged retweet made while he was on American soil.
This cannot be allowed to stand.
The attempt to criminalize Mr. Younes for allegedly sharing publicly available journalism is a direct attack on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It also raises serious concerns when a foreign government seeks to punish an American citizen for expressive activity that allegedly occurred here in the United States.
As a veteran Journalist Mr. Younes has always respected the local laws of the countries he reported from including Jordan, a country he highly respects its laws and its political system. Mr. Younes has spent decades working as a journalist, reporting on some of the most consequential issues affecting the United States and the Middle East. Whatever a government may think of a journalist’s reporting, criticism, or commentary, journalism is not a crime, nor is it a national-security threat.
We call upon the Jordanian government to immediately drop all charges against Mr. Younes,lift all restrictions preventing him from leaving the country, and allow him to safely return home to the United States.
We also call upon members of Congress, the Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Amman, and every appropriate agency of the United States government to take immediate action. This matter requires direct engagement at the highest levels of the Jordanian government.
These fabricated charges and the targeting of Mr. Younes are not reflective of the direction His Majesty King Abdullah II has taken in Jordan’s longstanding relationship with the United States.The United States has a close and longstanding relationship with Jordan. King Abdullah is highly respected by many in the U.S. Targeting an American citizen for exercising his freedom of speech, based on actions allegedly taken while he was here in the United States, is completely out of character with that relationship. This action raises serious concerns that Jordan’s legal system is being abused to target and silence a journalist. His Majesty and the senior leadership in Jordan have the ability to bring an immediate end to this. They can reaffirm Jordan’s commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of the press by putting an end to this prosecution, immediately dropping these baseless charges, lifting all restrictions against Mr. Younes, and allowing him to return home to the United States.
This case is bigger than a single alleged retweet. It speaks to the growing use of criminal and national-security laws to intimidate journalists and silence voices willing to report, question, and speak openly. Allowing this prosecution to proceed would send a dangerous message to journalists everywhere, including American journalists traveling and working abroad.
Our legal team will work to ensure that the U.S. Embassy in Jordan is actively engaged in protecting Mr. Younes, monitoring his safety and well-being, and ensuring that he receives all assistance and protections available to him as an American citizen.
Ali Younes should not spend a single day in jail over this allegation. He should never have been charged in the first place. There should be no ambiguity about what needs to happen next:
The charges against Ali Younes must be dropped immediately, and all travel restrictions must be lifted. The United States government must act now to make sure that happens, and he is allowed to return home.
Thank you Abed ... you are a strong legal voice and I am so glad the community has your expertise to speak out against injustice especially for Arab Americans.