Jordanian prison head dismissed

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Jordanian authorities have sacked the head of a prison where inmates deliberately injured themselves during a recent visit by Human Rights Watch.

More than 100 inmates hurt themselves with ceramic tiles in Sunday's protest.

A police spokesman said Majid Rawashda, director of the Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre, had violated its code on the treatment of prisoners.

The head of the HRW delegation which visited the prison said the dismissal was a "swift and necessary action".

Local opposition and human rights groups have claimed that prisoners are frequently tortured at the high security prison, 100km (62 miles) south of the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Police code violated

A spokesman for the Jordanian Public Security Department (PSD), Maj Bashir al-Daaja, said the inmates had deliberately hurt themselves to draw the attention of the HRW delegation that was investigating claims of torture at the prison.

Maj Daaja said the injuries were "superficial" and that all the inmates had been treated at a nearby hospital and returned to the prison.

The investigation found that the director of the prison was implicated [in torture] Christoph WilckeHuman Rights Watch (HRW)

He did not say whether Maj Rawashda's dismissal was linked to the prisoners' action.

However, he told the Associated Press that Maj Rawashda was accused of committing "administrative glitches" and "undertaking certain actions against some inmates, which are in violation of the police code".

Maj Daaja said the department had replaced Maj Rawashda with a higher-ranking officer.

Christoph Wilcke, a HRW researcher who headed team that visited the prison, welcomed the move and said Maj Rawashda had been implicated in the torture of inmates.

"I hope the investigations into the events of Wednesday will be equally swift and that they will be carried out by persons not connected with the PSD," he told the Jordan Times newspaper.

Mr Wilcke also said an inmate at Swaqa had died days before the incident after harming himself and that an investigation was under way.