Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour described the cabinet proposal as “a huge and brave step in the reform process,” according to Petra, the official government news agency. The proposal, which requires a parliamentary vote and the king’s signature to become law, aims to bring the State Security Court law into compliance with article 101 of Jordan’s 2011 constitution, which prohibits civilians from facing trial in military court except when the charges fall into the five categories. Media Affairs Minister Mohammed al-Momani, the government spokesman, told the Associated Press that the law would, for example, remove from court jurisdiction the crime of “lengthening the tongue,” which means insulting or criticizing the king (penal code article 195). Addressing concerns that terrorism in Jordan is broadly defined, Justice Minister Bassam al-Talhouni told the online news website Amman Net: “public prosecutors have enough knowledge and experience that qualifies them to know the characteristics of a crime, [including] characteristics of the crime of terrorism.” Yet many cases currently before the State Security Court involve activists arrested merely for chanting a slogan or carrying a sign at a protest. Al-Momani said at a September 11 news conference that under the proposed amendments, a panel of civilian judges in the security court would try cases involving civilians. He said the changes would not apply to cases currently before the court though. The State Security Court was established in 1959 with jurisdiction over penal code crimes deemed to harm Jordan’s internal and external security. The prime minister appoints the civilian judges, and the head of Jordan’s military appoints the military judges. The judges sit in panels of three – some military, some civilian and some mixed. The court’s prosecutors are all military officers. Abdullah Mahadeen, 25, an activist affiliated with the Hirak pro-reform youth movement, faces two trials before the State Security Court, one for “undermining the political regime,” and another for that charge and for “lengthening the tongue” and “illegal gathering.” The charge sheet for the first case, presented to the State Security Court on November 1, 2012, cites as its sole evidence signs that Mahadeen allegedly carried during a September 7, 2012 protest, and other signs that police discovered when they searched his car on September 11. According to the charge sheet, slogans on the signs include “The Regime Wants to Overthrow the Regime;” “Monitoring Phone Calls is a Violation of our Constitutional Rights;” and “You Can Fence Off a Traffic Circle [to keep protesters from entering] But You Can’t Fence Off a Country.” Human Rights Watch also reviewed the State Security Court charge sheet for the group trial of Hirak-affiliated Hisham al-Heesa, Bassem alRawabdeh, and Adnan `Arqub. The prosecutor’s charge of “undermining the political regime” in this case depended solely on chants the men had allegedly called out during four protests in Amman in early 2013. The charge sheet for al-Heesa says he allegedly led chants including: “O Abdullah, son of Hussein, where has the people’s money gone?;” “O Abdullah, son of Hussein, look what happened to Mubarak;” and “Your Arabic is broken; but just understand us, your gambling doesn’t concern us.” The same charge sheet includes al-Rawabdeh, who allegedly attended a protest celebrating al-Heesa’s release, chanting: “Listen, listen, Hisham, you have angered the regime … freedom comes from God, in spite of you, Abdullah.” Human Rights Watch has not found any evidence of chants that called for violence, nor did prosecutors allege incitement to violence. Instead, prosecutors make the vague claim that the chants “incited the streetand those present to oppose the political regime of the kingdom.” Al-Heesa’s brother told Human Rights Watch that al-Heesa, along with 20 other defendants from the central town of al-Dhiban, faces a separate group trial before the State Security Court for “undermining the political regime” and “engaging in acts of terrorism” in regard to a protest that turned violent in al-Dhiban in late 2012. His brother denied that al-Heesa was there. Al-Heesa and al-Rawabdeh are among 11 Hirak-affiliated protesters in detention. Despite the proposal to change the State Security Court law, public prosecutors have continued to refer people to the court for alleged crimes beyond the five categories the proposal specifies. On September 18, they referred the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Jafra News website to the court. The charge was “disturbing relations with a foreign state” (penal code article 118), for posting a YouTube video showing a man converted by Web2PDFConvert.com