Jordanian authorities Saturday prevented dozens of human rights activists from visiting four prisoners transferred from Israeli jails earlier this month to spend the rest of their sentence terms at Jordanian prisons, an Islamic movement statement said.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF) said authorities at the Gafgafa jail where the four prisoners are held allowed visitation of only close relatives.

The team included representatives for the freedoms committees at the IAF and the country's trade unions as well as the Amman-based Organization of the Arab Human Rights, the statement added.

	Advertisement

The IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid, who was among the turned-back visitors, accused the government of "losing the opportunity to deal with its people in a civilized manner".

"Insisting on dealing in martial manner with the visitors is set to distort Jordan's reputation," he said.

"The four captives are supposed to be honoured and released because they are heroes who were defending their country," he added.

The four prisoners - Sultan Ajlouni, Khalid abu Ghalioun, Amin Sane and Salem Abu Ghalioun - were handed over by Israel to Jordan on July 6 as a gesture of good will to spend the rest of their imprisonment at Jordanian jails.

They were serving life sentences after they were found guilty of killing two Israeli soldiers in 1991.

Under the agreement reached between the two governments, the four prisoners can be released after 18 months of their transfer to Jordan or in case Israel freed prisoners jailed for similar charges.

The four men are pressing demands to the authorities for treating them "not as ordinary prisoners", the daily al-Dustour reported Saturday.