|
Jordan rejects ban on Osama, Saddam names
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-01 11:13 Jordan's parliament rejected a bill Wednesday that
would enable the government to prevent parents from naming their children Osama
bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.
By a vote of 50-38, legislators turned down the proposed amendment to the
Civic Status Law, which would have empowered registration officers to reject
names that they deem "harmful to public order."
A Jordanian Woman
passes by paintings of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in a frame
shop in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday, June 30, 2004. The United States
turned Saddam Hussein and 11 of his deputies over to Iraqi legal custody
on Wednesday. [AP] | "The bill does not implement democracy, and there is no law in the whole
world which restricts the freedom of naming newborns," said independent
legislator Mohammed Shawabkeh.
An Islamist lawmaker, Mohammed Abu-Faris, said the bill had been proposed "to
please the Americans."
"Only the parents have the right to name their newborns and nobody else,"
Abu-Faris told the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament.
In Jordan, the fashion in names is often influenced by political events. When
relations were improving with Israel, before the Palestinian uprising revived in
2000, some Jordanians named their children after Israeli leaders such as Ariel
Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu and the late Yitzhak Rabin.
Although the amendment does not mention the names specifically, the
government made clear in the parliamentary debate the names of al-Qaida leader
bin Laden or Saddam, the ousted Iraqi dictator, would not be permitted.
It was the second time the government has tried to pass the bill.
The upper house of parliament — the Senate, whose 55 members are appointed by
the king — is expected to vote on the bill next month. Previously it has
supported the amendment.
If the Senate again votes in favor of the amendment, the bill will go to a
joint session with the Chamber of Deputies, where it would pass if it receives
two-thirds of the vote.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
