such time as their deportation took place. When considering the detention of two asylum-seekers in August, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that such detention was arbitrary and discriminatory. During the COVID-19 pandemic, detainees in immigration facilities complained of overcrowding, poor ventilation and lack of adequate distancing measures to protect them from infection. To reduce the number of individuals in immigration detention facilities, the authorities provisionally released more than half of all detained foreign nationals scheduled for deportation starting in April, but did not give them permission to work nor the means of an adequate standard of living. Instead, civil society organizations provided assistance for their survival.
DEATH PENALTY While no executions took place during the year, the government took no steps towards abolishing the death penalty. People with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities continued to be at risk of execution. In February, the Osaka District Court denied Kenji Matsumoto’s eighth request for a retrial. He was sentenced to death in 1993 after police allegedly coerced him into “confessing” to two robberies and murders. He was born with a severe intellectual disability, and developed a delusional disorder while in detention. In December, the Supreme Court overturned a 2018 Tokyo High Court decision denying a retrial of the case against Iwao Hakamada, who had spent 46 years on death row. 1. The rise of 'corona divorce' amid Japan’s domestic violence shadow pandemic (News story, 17 August) 2. Japan: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee – 130th session, 12 October – 6 November 2020 (ASA 22/3065/2020)
JORDAN Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Head of state: Abdullah II bin al-Hussein Head of government: Bisher al-Khasawneh (replaced Omar al-Razzaz in October) The authorities announced a state of emergency in March to combat COVID-19, giving the Prime Minister sweeping powers allowing for the detention of at least 13 journalists critical of the government and the King, and those accused of “spreading panic about COVID-19”. The COVID-19 lockdown saw a spike in domestic violence. Migrant workers were left stranded with unpaid wages. Child labour increased as the economic impact of the pandemic pushed many families into poverty. Children of Jordanian mothers and non-Jordanian fathers were left without access to emergency state funding. Some Syrian refugees were left without humanitarian aid, and many others lost their jobs and returned to government-controlled areas in Syria.
BACKGROUND In March, the King enacted Defence Law No. 13 of 1992, declaring a state of emergency and giving the Prime Minister sweeping powers to take “all measures necessary” to combat COVID-19. The Prime Minister pledged to implement it to the “narrowest extent” and in a manner that would not impinge on political rights, freedom of expression or private property. Jordan remained a member of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the armed conflict in Yemen.
FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLY The authorities continued to curtail freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The crackdown on journalists and activists continued, including through harassment of journalists in relation to the government’s COVID-19 measures.
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