Jordan- Stranded, on Both Sides of the Border!By Mohammad Aburumman


(MENAFN- Alghad Newspaper)

Their son was killed in Syria after joining the Nusra Front, month ago.

His pictures were sent to his family, published as well by his friends within the group.

Meanwhile, his family, here in Jordan remain trapped, more so after his death than during his life in Syria.

They are looking to put an end to the legal drag-on, which is hurdling inheritance for instance, and would complicate his wife's situation, should she decide to re-marry.

It is difficult legally overcome the implications related to being directly related to someone who has partaken in such groups.

The law itself, however, is also trapped in this regard.

Legally speaking, there is no clear way to address such a situation, neither by the political and social institutions, nor the legal ones.

In the meantime, the family were advised to resort to court, legal experts told me.

Issuing the certificate of death, via court, can be done in two ways, depending on the purpose.

In order for the wife to re-marry, then the certificate of death has to be issued and ratified by the Sharia court.

For all other intents and purposes, the household may resort to the regular court to issue the certificate of death.

However, a certificate of death requires concrete proof of death; images and pictures are not enough. They may be accepted as supporting documents, but there must be eye witnesses.

Compared to the post-mortem divorce death certificate, the issuance of the generic death certificate, for other purposes, is less complicated.

The problem lies in proving he actually died, legally, and it isn't about just this single case, no, not even three or four.

We're talking about hundreds of Jordanians killed in Syria and Iraq.

I do not know how else to address a topic that is as complex as this.

Socially speaking, the general, public framework of such issues has more to do with the legal and judicial devices than it has with the security.

Even the police and intelligence devices cannot absolutely validate their deaths, based on the intel they have.

So, how will the judiciary and legal bodies be able to verify the death or life of someone in Syria or Iraq? Can a certain procedure be tailored for the families of those whom have passed fighting with these organisations abroad?

Especially since it is difficult to prove a person's death under such conditions!

Some of them died and left their families behind in Syria and Iraq; what shall we down about them?

Is there a clear, systematic approach to addressing the circumstances of remnant families in Jordan and abroad? Especially children and teenagers who probably lived under the guardianship of ISIS and were indoctrinated into their culture.

Overseas, news media like the BBC show us how children returning from Raqqa and Mosul to Europe undergo psychological and cultural rehabilitation.

Have we perhaps devised such a procedure?

In truth, this issues go beyond what we know to there being an unknown number of Jordanians who got married in Syria and were killed there.

Their children are stranded there, but there are no marriage certificates issued by the courts here or in Syria, to certify to the legality of their parents' marriages.

When Jordanian families try to relocate their own relatives' children or grandchildren from Syria and Iraq to Jordan, which is happening nowadays, there must be a standardised legal, security procedure.

I know that a part of our politicians and officials are not interested in these issues, and along with them are some of our media figures and intellectuals.

They claim it isn't our problem; we are not out to inherit what the extremists brought upon themselves and their families when they joined up with the terrorists there and died!

Needless to say, this doesn't make sense.

No matter how bad extremism goes in our country, and with it the standing security measures, this is a state of law. There are courts need to legally and judicially distinguish between the terrorists and their families.

We need to start thinking about procedures and options which would spare the children and women, the families, more suffering.

They must not be held responsible for what their fathers and husbands did, nor must they live with it!

This article is an edited translation of the Arabic version, published by AlGhad.

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Alghad Newspaper

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