A/HRC/4/33/Add.3 page 5 Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr. Manfred Nowak, undertook a visit to Jordan from 25 to 29 June 2006, at the invitation of the Government. 2. The request for a visit was made only in December 2005, and the Government responded promptly with an invitation by April 2006. According to the Special Rapporteur, the invitation is by itself a statement of Jordan’s willingness to open up to independent and objective scrutiny and a testament to its cooperation with the international community in the area of human rights. 3. On the basis of a thorough analysis of the legal system, his visits to detention facilities, interviews with detainees, the support of forensic medical evidence, and interviews with government officials, lawyers and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Special Rapporteur concludes that the practice of torture is widespread in Jordan, that a general awareness of the seriousness of torture is lacking, and that there is total impunity for torture and ill-treatment in the country. 4. Over the course of the visit, he met with officials, including: the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Director of the Human Rights Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Assistant Director and Head of the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the General Intelligence Directorate, Minister of Interior, Minister of Justice, Commander of the Military Police, Chief of Military Security, Director of the Public Security Directorate, Chief of the Judicial Council, Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as the Director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine. 5. The Special Rapporteur also met with the President and staff of the National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), representatives of NGOs, lawyers, the diplomatic corps in Jordan, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 6. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and other authorities for their full cooperation. In particular, he visited a number of detention facilities where he could carry out unrestricted inspections and private interviews with all the detainees he requested to see. There are however two notable and regrettable exceptions, which constituted clear breaches of the Terms of Reference for the visit accepted by the Government: he was denied the right to speak to detainees in private during his visit to the General Intelligence Directorate (GID); and at the Public Security Directorate Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Abdali, central Amman, the authorities attempted to obstruct the Special Rapporteur and hide evidence.1 7. On 6 September 2006, a preliminary version of this report was sent to the Government. On 10 October 2006 the Government provided detailed comments, which have been carefully studied and taken into account. 1 For a description of the incidents, see the appendix below.