E/CN.4/2001/0063 page 24 Jordan 83. On 23 March 2000, Muslim extremists reportedly accused the writer Musa Hawamdeh of apostasy because of his alleged criticisms of Islam and called for him to be put to death. The former member of Parliament Abdel Moneim Abu Zant is said to have declared that the writer had distorted the divine words of the prophet Joseph in Egypt. He apparently called the writer an apostate, demanded that he should repent or be declared an apostate by the authorities, which would have led to his divorce and to application of the death penalty. 84. In June 2000 the mayor of Amman reportedly ordered the Jordanian Arab Orthodox Church closed and forbade the priest, Stephanos Kamal Farahat, to hold worship services. On 16 June 2000 a Jordanian civil administrator ordered the closing of another Jordanian Arab Orthodox Church in Swaileh. 85. Jordan responded by transmitting a reply from the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior: “… on 25 September 1998 the Council of Roman Orthodox Churches in Jordan and Palestine decided to ban the aforementioned Farahat, who was a member of the Roman Orthodox Patriarchate in Jordan, from exercising his vocation, taking on any ecclesiastical activity and making any official statements on the grounds that he had been disrespectful towards the laws of the Church and had rebelled against his spiritual superiors. Since that decision was taken, the individual in question has continued, with the help of Father Philip Saliba, Antiochian Bishop in the United States of America, to perform his religious duties through the Beit Sahour Association without having obtained the proper authorizations. We then received a letter dated 9 May 2000 from His Excellency the Prime Minister of Jordan, to which was attached a letter from Father Diodore I, Patriarch of the Roman Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, in which the Patriarch strongly condemned the opening of a new church by said Farahat in Amman in the name of the Arab Orthodox Church without the consent of the Patriarchate, which, in accordance with Law No. 27 of 1958 of the Patriarchate of the Roman Orthodox Church, is the sole entity authorized to open churches and related establishments in Jordan. Consequently, the Patriarchate had asked the authorities concerned to prevent him from continuing his activities under the auspices of the aforementioned association. It should be noted that no officially recognized Orthodox Church has been closed, and Farahat was authorized to continue performing his functions by virtue of my letter dated 9 September 2000, which was addressed to His Excellency the Governor of the capital.” 86. Jordan has also stressed that it “is not only a model of religious coexistence and cooperation, but has always exerted a huge part of its efforts in the pursuit of interfaith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews, and has called for the strengthening of understanding between these three faiths.” 87. The Special Rapporteur thanks Jordan for its clear, precise and substantiated reply.