Jordan has detained a political activist with no explanation, again

Omar Awad — a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party in Jordan  — was arrested on 8 March 2026 after being snatched from the streets by security forces. Since then, he has been denied contact with both his family and his lawyers.

No warrant was presented, no formal charges have been announced. Authorities have provided no explanation for his detention.

The arrest comes as a shock for those who know Awad.

Jordan detains Omar Awad

A trained dentist, Awad first became known during his years as a student at a dental college in Ukraine. Even then, he stood out for his organising work among students. Colleagues recall a young activist who combined political conviction with an ability to build relationships across movements.

When he returned to Jordan after graduating, Awad brought the same energy with him. He quickly became active within the party’s youth sector, helping to organise political activity and grassroots campaigns. Over time, he rose through the ranks — first to the party’s Central Committee and eventually to its Political Bureau.

Those who have worked alongside him describe a leader who was both firm and approachable: someone capable of commanding respect while remaining deeply attentive to the people around him.

It is precisely this kind of political engagement that often attracts the attention of Jordan’s powerful security apparatus.

Jordan has long presented itself internationally as a stable ally of Western powers in a volatile region. But that stability has often relied on tight political control at home. Activists, journalists, and opposition figures have repeatedly faced detention, prosecution, and surveillance.

Such arrests are not isolated incidents. They form part of a broader pattern in which dissenting voices — particularly those critical of regional power structures or supportive of resistance movements — are treated as threats to state authority.

The detention of Awad appears to follow the same pattern.

Across the region, political repression has frequently accompanied geopolitical alignment with powerful Western allies. Governments that position themselves as pillars of “stability” often rely on security services to suppress political mobilisation that challenges the status quo.

And to be frank, it is getting wearying.

This is a fight no government can win

For Jordan’s ruling establishment, the arrest of a communist political leader may therefore be less about an individual activist and more about sending a message.

That message is: organised political opposition will not be tolerated.

Yet history shows that repression rarely silences movements for long. From anti-colonial struggles across the Arab world to labour and student movements in Jordan itself, political change has often been driven by individuals who refused to accept the limits imposed on them.

Omar Awad is known precisely for that kind of commitment — to social justice, political freedom and resistance against occupation.

One more time: if the authorities in Jordan think that they can separate us and hunt political activists down one by one, we at the Canary will use our platform and all the privilege afforded to us as a media organisation based in Britain to make sure this doesn’t happen.

We will be relentless. We will make sure that the state of Jordan’s repression does not go unnoticed in the West. Nothing can stand in the face of international solidarity. Just ask your mates west of the river.

Power and solidarity to Omar Awad.

Featured image via the Canary