Since Biden won’t act, GOP must step up for US prisoner in Jordan
Quin Hillyer
Because the Biden administration has been virtually AWOL in public advocacy for a hunger-striking American unjustly imprisoned in Jordan, Republican House leaders should take his banner.
As noted here numerous times, Bassem Awadallah is a Jordanian American with dual citizenship who was imprisoned in April 2021 on charges of sedition against King Abdullah II. Whether or not the charges are illegitimate, which is how they appear from a distance, the indisputable reality is that Awadallah was not allowed to present evidence or witnesses in his own defense. He also claims to have been viciously tortured in Jordanian custody, a practice the State Department in 2020 said does indeed occur in Jordanian detention centers. He has been held in solitary confinement and has not been able to see his family, members of which, he alleges, were threatened as part of an effort to coerce a confession from him.
BIDEN MUST STOP JORDAN FROM ABUSING RIGHTS OF IMPRISONED US CITIZEN
The State Department repeatedly has said that it will “continue to monitor [Awadallah’s] situation.” Beyond that, though, it has done next to nothing to make public calls for better treatment for the prisoner or for a new trial conducted with the basics of due process. Frankly, what really should happen is that President Joe Biden should make a public demand for Awadallah’s release into the U.S., with him subject to a permanent ban from traveling to Jordan. Free the man and end the saga while mitigating any putative (or flat-out imaginary) threat he poses to the Jordanian kingdom.
Yet, because Biden is notoriously reluctant to stand up for U.S. citizens unjustly targeted by foreign nations, the new Republican majority in the House ought to fill the gap. This is especially so now that the prisoner has begun, and then renewed, a hunger strike to protest his inhumane treatment. An American citizen’s life is at risk in a foreign land after being imprisoned without the chance to defend himself: Surely this is grounds for Congress to protest.
As it is, Congress has some leverage. Jordan is usually a valuable ally, but it also is heavily dependent on U.S. assistance of various sorts that, combined, totals well over $1.5 billion annually. Congress controls those purse strings. That’s why three lawmakers in particular should take up Awadallah’s cause. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on the State Department and foreign operations and Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) is chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee. If together they say they will hold up all aid to Jordan until lawmakers and Awadallah’s family can meet personally and privately with the prisoner, and perhaps until he is released entirely into U.S. custody, King Abdullah will be hard-pressed to say no.
Likewise, the House Foreign Affairs Committee authorizes the programs financed by the Appropriations Committee. If its chairman, Mike McCaul of Texas, joins Granger and Diaz-Balart in their demands on Awadallah’s behalf, the effect on Jordan’s king will be even greater.
And if Congress really wants to get tough, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan could make noises about the dodgy finances related to King Abdullah’s multiple palatial properties in the United States.
Who knows — maybe Awadallah is guilty as charged, despite highly dubious evidence thereof. Yet because Jordan railroaded him into prison without even a modicum of basic procedural rights or, frankly, human rights, all we know for sure is that he is an American citizen who merits American concern and advocacy while representing not even the slightest threat to King Abdullah going forward.
The U.S. must stand up for its own. A little hardball is in order, and perhaps a serious brushback pitch or two.