The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Tirana Hassan, has warned that the shrinking space for civil rights and freedom of expression calling the repression and intimidation by the Jordanian government having a “chilling” effect. “There has been a rise in repression and intimidation and the result is that we are seeing increasing restrictions on rights and freedoms across the country,” she said.

The newly appointed director said that the cybercrime law was “pushed through parliament at record speed” and noted that all the public concerns made by Human Rights Watch including an appeal directly to King Abdullah II were ignored. “We tried to meet with senior Jordanian officials however all of our requests were denied.

Hassan who is in Jordan on a short two-day visit said that Human Right Watch will continue to work with Jordanian human rights defenders whom she called our “partners.”

On another issue Tirana Hassan said that Human Rights Watch stands by its conclusion following years of research that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Our years of reach led us to the conclusion that the authorities in Israel were committing the crime of apartheid and persecution, there has been no meaningful changes to address that and as a result our findings still stand.”

Below is the full transcript of Amman Net’s interview with the executive director of Human Rights:

Q: How do you evaluate Jordan’s democracy after your meeting with the head of the Independent Elections’ commission?

A: Jordan has taken some steps encouraging political participation for example there has been amendments to laws such as the political parties and elections laws. All this is in jeopardy because there has been a rise in repression and intimidation and the result is that we are seeing increasing restrictions on rights and freedoms across the country what we have seen in particular in terms of freedom of the press we have seen blanket gag orders and we have seen the dissolution of the trade unions that were independently elected, and this will all have a chilling effect. The people of Jordan are operating in an atmosphere where there is an increase in repression and intimidation. The cost of being politically active and participation maybe be just too high for the average citizen.

Q: Human Rights Watch has publicly criticized the cybercrime law; did you discuss your position with the response of Jordanian officials?

A: The cybercrime law that was pushed through to parliament at record speed is an incredibly worrying law and Human Rights Watch and other international human rights organizations have raised our concerns with the Jordanian authorities including making statements to the Jordanian parliament. Human Rights Watch even sent a letter to the King to urge him not to allow this law to pass and coming to action. This law is going to be incredibly worrying for Jordan’s civic space, it will be yet another tool that will be another tool that will be used to shrink people’s rights to privacy and threatens people’s right to freedom of speech. This is going to be a law that sends a serious message to the people of Jordan that there rights and freedoms are being infringed. Human Rights Watch and other International human rights organizations have made it very clear that this is a problematic law. We tried to meet with senior Jordanian officials however all of our requests were denied.

Q: How can Human Rights watch and Jordanian human rights defenders cooperate in light of the current situation of human rights in Jordan?

A: Human Rights Watch values deeply our partnerships with Jordanian human rights defenders and in this sort of climate when we are seeing the shrinking space for civil society in this situation it is more important than ever that human rights organizations with Jordanian human rights defenders to ensure that we are protecting that we are protecting their human rights space and civic space.

Q: Human rights watch has called Israeli policy to Palestinians apartheid policy. Are you standing by your position?

A: Human rights watch actually did many years of research in Israel and the occupied territories where we gathered evidence on Israelis policies and the experience of Palestinians which proved to us and let us to the conclusion that the authorities in Israel were committing the crime of apartheid and persecution there has been no meaningful changes to address that and as a result our findings still stand.