HRW rebukes Jordan for alleged torture

A New York-based human rights group accused Jordan's security services Wednesday of carrying out widespread torture in the country's jails.

The Human Rights Watch report comes a year after the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, said he found evidence of systematic abuse in at least two Jordanian detention facilities but did not believe torture was widespread in the country.

"Torture in Jordan's prison system is widespread, even two years after King Abdullah II called for reforms to stop it once and for all," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.

But Jordanian police spokesman Maj. Mohammed …