That the arrest of a prominent Jordanian cartoonist says about the state of satire in the Arab world

The course of the famous Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj decades-long career is not always easy. It is the first local satirist Jordan’s King Abdullah II in cartoon form in 2000, his personal work costs him to portray in a newspaper owned by the government. His persistent satire brought Al Qaeda and ISIS death threats. Amman attorney general the collar after a 2017 depiction of Jesus Christ “disown” the greek orthodox church for questioning offended some Jordanians. none of the push-back Hajjaj ready to cheat death of Israeli and Arab leaders, terrorists or religious institutions, the year 53 for what it is harmless to success 26 August sun, Hajjaj he considered the ultimate caricature to his publisher had -What presented on condition of normalizing recently announced between Israel and the United Arab Emirates-mocked reports that when police arrested in Jordan by a picnic with his wife at a checkpoint on his return, he had no idea why it was still, he was terminated arrested and imprisoned. “I thought I understood the game,” said Hajjaj time six days later, shortly after his release, noting that the Crown Prince Mohammed is Zayed, had called the monarch of the United seems to hint that the cartoon. “It ‘was shocking, very confusing for my family. It came at a difficult time in the series and the prison with criminals and drug traffickers.” What he had Hajjaj, it was not self-evident that the normalization agreement was so sensitive an issue that is satire anti-terrorism charges connected would bring “Jordan damage relations with a friendly state.” Hajjaj’s arrest is further evidence of the state of deterioration of press freedom in Jordan, where the police of journalists covering protests in July teachers beat. But it also shows the growing soft power of the United Arab Emirates in the region. The Jordanian authorities would “and not abuse the rights of their citizens as a risk of violating the feelings of Golf Guide”, Human Rights Watch said the deputy director for the Middle East Joe Stork, he said in a statement for his release from August 28 called on activists and satirical social media took note. German cartoonist and author Rainer Hachfeld wrote an image of the Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz Hajjaj with his hands to his throat. Another cartoonist, has Ataq Shahid, a Jordanian-list is a boot stepping on the artist’s hand. Amid the clamor Giordano Hajjaj published on 30 needle, a move that sharply his lawyer surprised. He is further examined and could still face up to three years in prison under the law cybercrime in the country, according to his lawyer. The image shows a flag offend-coated pigeon Israeli spitting in the face of a man in a United ghutra many believe that the de facto leader, Zayed of the United Arab Emirates is. A touch on the cheek forms the shape of a fighter jet with Arabic letters that explain in F-35 references to the military equipment to Israel, the United States has taken against the sale to the influence of the United Arab Emirates. Israel and the United Arab Emirates on August 13 announcement that it would normalize relations shaken the Middle East. From the 22 member countries of the Arab League, only Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel instead. Until June Jordan was reportedly reviewing its 26-year deal with the prospect of Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory. The Palestinian leadership has actions of the United Arab Emirates called a “stab in the back”, describes the setback on annexation as places “fig leaf”. But the thing of pushback in the UAE, says Kristian Ulrichsen, a political scientist who specializes in Gulf politics, many high-profile public intellectuals was “their thing reservations obliquely and indirectly.” This is not surprising, sustained in one of the world’s countries monitored, the rights to the “ruthless repression” to criticize the disagreement. Similarly, on the way Jordanians an opinion is cautious “because of the realization that the security relations between Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are close,” said Ulrichsen “a position that the arrest of Hajjaj just stressed.” Jordan has long regardless of his local golf for a fee. A former newspaper editor in Amman, who declined to give his name in order to speak freely, tells TIME when he worked on the means of status information to keep the reporting government’s negative routine or critical of the leading golf that reports impact power with the Gulf States, the publisher says he knows no evidence of the UAE stepped in to force the arrest of Hajjaj: “But my guess is that it is not contrary. Jordan is very susceptible to places work and finances. “in Egypt was commuted media reaction to the pact similarly silent. launched a series of political indignation newspaper caricatures, but looked no mention of the UAE by name, by Jonathan Guyer, a journalist and academic, political cartoons in Egypt during the 2011th Revolution “This is an extremely unpopular agreement, but it seems Arab leaders must object to it blocked, “says Guyer. “That’s why Emad Hajjaj was a caricature so outrageous” he says Hejjaj not against the United Arab Emirates or peace with Israel, in fact, his cartoons have already twice at the Dubai Press Club Arab Journalism Awards. But, as a satirical, it’s his job to comment on controversial issues. “He really like the Emirates. I have many times been there,” he says. “But … why they have a big problem with the cartoons?” Cartooning and other forms of satire exploded sometimes described as the Arab Spring during the youth riots led of 2010 and the 2011th But as these revolutions were co-opted by extremists, or brutally suppressed by other anti-democratic forces, the space for freedom of expression began to shrink. Now tell Hajjaj is tighter than ever. “US. Allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates managed to convince the Americans that democracy is not good for us, and they should, they want to do,” he says. Given this the wretched policy, “the least we can do is make jokes about our reality. We should have that.” assisted by his art him in trouble before, he has again Jordan standing. After Hajjaj first king in the form of cartoon portrait of two decades, he has been fired from his job in the government owned daily Al Rai. He crushed and anxiety, took a job in a smaller newspaper and for a while ‘no one was “an ordinary cartoonist, draw cartoons, excited to make would.” But to deal with controversial issues within a year back Hajjaj. in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in the history of Jordan in a series of attacks n Aman hotel’s three entrances, the dozens of people killed in 2005 drew a cartoon of three interlocking hands on a black background. One red, one green, one white; clasped hands in national colors of Jordan has been a symbol of solidarity, reprinted on T-shirts, pins and banners. Whether his arrest is the way he responds to change future events in the Arab world, says Hajjaj, it is too early to say. After his release last week, his lawyer advised him to keep a low profile. Instead, he turned in his usual weekly assignment, although it took a little ‘more than usual to decide on a theme. the design shown Hajjaj, he bent an artist on his desk. A welder mask protects his face from flying sparks accident such as page pen.
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