AMMAN (JT) - The Jordan Press Association (JPA) on Monday expressed “concern” over a series of court decisions convicting four leading journalists in connection to opinion and publications cases.

“The court’s decisions are prone to have a negative impact on the freedom of press in the Kingdom,” JPA President Tareq Momani said yesterday.

In response, the association called for starting a dialogue that should lead to amendments on pieces of legislation that govern press and publications cases.

A major change expected is the abolishment of imprisonment in cases related to journalism, a JPA statement said.

Although the newest version of the Press and Publications Law prohibits jailing journalists for charges related to performing their job, other laws, such as the Penal Code, still sanction the detention and imprisonment penalty under different labels, such as libel.

Momani said the latest rulings were built on Penal Code provisions.

The court decided a three-month imprisonment for chief editor of Al Arab Al Yawm Arabic daily, Taher Adwan, and reporter, Sahar Qassem, in addition to former chief editor of Ad Dustour daily Osama Sharif and its reporter Fayez Louzi, the JPA statement said.

“They were involved in the same case,” an expert in the media laws and who is familiar with the cases, Yahia Shukair, told The Jordan Times yesterday.

In 2006, the two papers carried a news item about a citizen who filed a motion with the Higher Judicial Council against the judges of the Higher Court of Justice, who had upheld a decision by the Civil Status and Passport Department depriving the plaintiff from his citizenship. The two papers were sued accordingly.

The journalists have two weeks to appeal before the sentence is implemented, Shukair said.

Sharif, who was informed of the ruling by the newspaper’s lawyers, said that he would appeal the verdict.