This report looks into the proliferation of surveillance cameras across the West Bank and how, amid a legal vacuum, they are posing a threat to people’s privacy. We show how the lack of regulatory legislation has led to social conflict, psychological pressure, economic losses, and fears that this technology could be used by the security services or for digital blackmail. Although the authorities have acknowledged that a draft law has been around since 2021, it remains shrouded in secrecy, while rights groups fear this law itself could come at the expense of people’s liberties.

A few days after the publication of ARIJ’s investigation “Freedom Denied.. Pychiatric patients trapped inside the forensic ward of “Al-Fuheis” Hospital in Jordan”, Jordanian Minister of Health Dr. Ibrahim Al-Bdour paid an unannounced visit to the National Center for Mental Health.