Jordanian police detain dozens of Islamists for urging strikes against fuel hikes, their party says

DALE GAVLAK, Associated Press Writer
AP Worldstream
04-09-2006
Dateline: AMMAN, Jordan
Police detained dozens of Islamists Sunday for allegedly distributing leaflets calling for a general strike to protest a sharp hike in fuel prices, the Islamic Action Front said in a statement posted on the Internet.

The Front, Jordan's largest opposition party, said dozens of its members have been rounded up since last Thursday and "arrests are continuing."

A Jordanian official said no one was currently in custody over the incident.

"There isn't a single person in detention, but some were arrested for putting up posters calling for protests. They were brought in for questioning and afterward released," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. He declined to say how many people were rounded up.

But deputy Zuhair Abul-Ragheb, a member of the Front's 17-strong bloc in parliament, said that although people were released Saturday after he spoke to security chiefs, the arrests resumed Sunday.

"This morning, we were surprised to find out that detentions were still going on," he said. He did not know the exact number of those arrested.

The Front has been a vocal opponent of Saturday's fuel price increase _ the third in nine months _ and urged professionals and civil servants to stage a general strike on Sunday.

Some 50 unionists turned out for a protest in Amman, a tiny number considering that Jordan's 13 professional associations, dominated by Islamic Front members and leftist activists, boast 120,000 members.

It wasn't immediately clear if the call had been heeded elsewhere in the country.

In a harshly worded statement issued later, the Front urged the government to reverse the fuel hikes. It called for restructuring the tax system, reducing state spending and enforcing stricter measures to crack down on corruption.

The Islamic Action Front is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, an influential player in Jordan's social affairs, providing low-income citizens with assistance that includes education and health care.

The Front has warned that the increases would further burden people in a country where unemployment runs at 15 percent, and poverty blights a third of the 5.5 million population.

The government hiked fuel prices late Saturday in line with efforts to offset the impact of rising world oil prices on the budget deficit. Prices were raised between 3 and 43.2 percent, depending on the type of fuel.

Last July and September, the government raised the prices of oil derivatives by 33 and 22 percent respectively, citing steps toward completely canceling fuel subsidies by 2007. Jordan is also saddled with a multibillion dollar foreign debt.

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On the Net:

Islamic Action Front: http://www.jabha.net

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