By Jumana Ghunaimat
To you, anonymous.
How I wish you would reveal yourself while you filed the lawsuit against me — but also against the freedom of speech and expression — but I do not wish you that now, because of the humiliation that you might face which the ethics of victor does not allow me, especially after you proclaimed yourself in opposition to the freedom of speech and expression.
Here we have to say that to justify the decision to ban the trial in the case filed against me by anonymous to an article in which I criticized some lawmakers performance, entitled: “We are bored the performance, stop it!”, no less important than the ban issued by the Attorney General.
The decision came in accordance with the provisions of Article 130 / A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the explanation which was built on, in itself, champions freedom of expression and substantive criticism, which is not character assassination, and is close to the pulse of the street and express the concerns of the people.
The Judicial decision to prevent my trial is respectable, as it assured that everything stated in the article falls under permissible criticism, which aims to straighten the performance and is not intended to criticize the legislative institution or its members, considering what came in the decision comes within the framework of freedom of expression in the work of al-Ghad as a media institution.
The stronger message that comes with the decision is that the judiciary authority expressly championed fourth pillar of democracy, and emphasized its regulatory role on other institutions, to provide new evidence that the judiciary is doing well, and that we have an objective judiciary that triumph freedom, and puts an end to those hotheads who still think that the homeland is tailored to their wants.
I no longer care much to know the owner of the anonymous complainant, he eventually underwent two trials and was convicted in both; the first trial was popular and it was a political trial par excellence; as the act was denounced by large segments of the observers, politicians, civil society institutions, and human rights centers, and included significant support for al-Ghad across all traditional and new means of expression, visual and written.
The second trial was the publication of the judicial decision which was confirmed by the Attorney General, which rejected the complaint and the charges listed.
As a result, the magic turned against the magician, and he who thought that the freedom of the media do not have supporters discovered the opposite and learnt a hard lesson; the enemies of freedom will be defeated, he was defeated since the first moment when the person chose anonymity.
I have no problem to go to court as it has the final say between any two parties; the problem was not having to appear before court, but in an attempt to hide behind it and make it a tool to kill the freedoms and put pressure on institutions, which did not materialize.
After the file is closed justice was served, I can only thank everyone who stood by my side and championed objective and professional media, and supported al-Ghad in the face of the anonymous, who is even scared of giving up his identity.
The battle for freedoms remain open.
Thank you, and may Jordan and its press remain free, and no consolation for the anonymous.
@jumanaghunaimat
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic edition.
