Ending unnecessary suffering

Minister of Justice Bassam Talhouni announced on Saturday that a new e-notification system for the purpose of judicial proceedings will be launched in mid-September to streamline judicial procedures and make them more efficient, secure and dependable.

Under the current archaic judicial notification policy, which relies on newspapers' notices, many affected people remain in the dark about the status of their cases, whether filed by them or against them, since few people ever read newspapers anymore these days.

No wonder many unsuspecting people are stopped at borders or by police on roads at random and detained for not satisfying judicial decisions rendered against them that entail payment of certain amounts of money as damages to plaintiffs.

Now at last, lawyers of people involved in law suits will be duly notified of any judgement adopted against their clients, who can act accordingly in due course without facing sudden detentions by police for not paying up judgements against them.

Besides the fact that under international law, civil court decisions do not allow detentions or imprisonment, the modernisation of the notification procedures in the country would go a long way to end unnecessary suffering and inconvenience seen in civil law suits.

At least now unsuspecting litigants, who, in good faith, fail to satisfy civil courts’ judgements against them have a chance to avoid the hardships associated with sudden detention at airports or on roads.

Besides, introducing e-technology to judicial procedures is a belated, giant step for a more orderly administration of justice by the court system in the country that should have been taken a long time ago.

Credit goes to Talhouni for taking this bold decision, which can only be the first step in the direction of the modernisation of the entire judiciary. What remains is adapting court decisions with Jordan's human rights treaty obligations, especially under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.