AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan leaders admitted to expelling foreigners for "illegal" missionary activities in February. Acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the Jordan House of Parliament Feb. 20 that authorities had expelled missionaries operating "under the cover of doing charitable work," suggesting that evangelistic activity is illegal in Jordan.
If such evangelistic work were illegal, Jordan could be opening itself to accusations of violating Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the country published in its Official Gazette in July 2006, giving it the force of law.
On Jan. 29, Compass Direct (CD) news service reported that Jordan deported and denied residence permits to at least 27 foreign Christian individuals and families in 2007. On Feb. 20, Judeh read a statement by the Council of Church Leaders in Jordan condemning the CD report. The Parliament then passed a resolution Feb. 21 condemning the CD article. While it was unclear what the government considered false in the report, the fact of deportations of Christians was further verified as authorities Feb. 10 expelled an Egyptian pastor with the Assemblies of God church in Madaba and, the previous week, an Egyptian pastor from a Baptist church in Zarqa.
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