Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Abbadi Not Guilty

I’m predicting that Mr.Abbadi will be found not guilty, perhaps not all of the charges will be thrown out, perhaps he won’t be getting an out right acquittal but his conviction will be on a much lesser charges that may or may not carry jail time other than what he already had served while in detention awaiting the trial. I think that his lawyer’s resplendence idea of inserting the hacking issue into the mix will prove to be a huge mitigating factor. If the judges don’t somehow doubt the credibility of the defendant’s attorney, they will have no choice but return a not guilty verdict. The letter is considered the fulcrum with which the persecution case rests’. Abbadi denied writing the letter, and further more says that he was framed by someone that wanted to harm his interest, and hence wrote the letter and attributes it to him. He also testified that he would never harm Jordan’s interests abroad and he is a loyal citizen and former law maker dedicated to the service of the Hashemite regime and the country of Jordan. If that defense is not convincing enough I don’t know what else would be. This new turn of events had changed the entire make up of the case and shook the ground underneath the prosecutor’s general feet. Had Mr. Abbadi insisted that he is the one that wrote the letter, and had he insisted that he wrote it because he was exercising his freedom of speech rights, he would be convicted with no if and or but about it. Nevertheless, having found an outlet to get him off the hook will prove to be a brilliant thinking on the part of his attorney. There is no way in the world the prosecution can prove with an absolute certainty that Mr. Abbadi wrote the letter, the IT experts that testified the other day on behalf of the defendant clearly stated that possibility of hacking the cite exists and it may very well be that someone had inserted the letter into the web site and made it look like Mr. Abbadi wrote it, in other words, the implication is that he was framed. When I reviewed this case few months ago I was thinking in my mind that it is going to be for sure 100% conviction, it is crystal clear that the letter which was allegedly written by Mr. Abbadi sounds like it is intended to harm the Jordanian interests and sully its reputation abroad, needles to say, the subsequent turn of events and particularly the framing allegations turns the whole story upside down and throws the ball back in the prosecution court. And despite the fact that the prosecutor asked that Mr. Abbadi be found guilty as charged, I’m sure the judges are much more sagacious than the prosecutors and they will take the issue of the denial as well as the issue of framing very seriously. Let us wait and see what the verdict is going to be but I have a deep visceral feeling that it is going to be favorable to Mr. Abbadi



http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=2575

Monday, October 01, 2007

It must be the end of time

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=2547

I can’t believe that Fahed Fank, one of the most ardent opponents of the National Agenda; long even before it was even published, is now calling for its revival. The end of time must be drawing near. He questioned in his daily column published in AlRai newspaper on October 20, 205 whether the goals of the national agenda were obligatory or merely hopes and expectations, he questioned the hypothesis with which were used as a fulcrum for the national agenda, he stated that the fundamental issue in the economic development in Jordan is based on outside influences and not under our will and determination, he cited the Palestinian problem, the future of Iraq, the stability of the region, fluctuating oil prices, out side grants, the gulf market, and other reasons that will hinder the launching of the national agenda. Mr. Fank went on to say that the most farcical item of the agenda’s ten main items is the one that pledges to turn the countries budget deficit into a surplus even prior to having to take into consideration the foreign grants. According to him even if this economic surplus goal was achieved it would have caused as much damage to the economy as the budget deficit itself since it will demand an increase in tax levies.