Gag order imposed on Methanol poisoning case in Jordan

Jordan’s Chief Public Prosecutor, Judge Naif Al-Samarat, has issued a gag order on all information related to "investigative case No. 828/2025" - commonly referred to as the methanol poisoning case - effective today, Wednesday.

In accordance with the judicial decision, the Director General of the Media Commission has issued a circular instructing all media outlets to comply with the gag order.

The ban prohibits the publication, republication, or circulation of any details related to the investigation, including images or videos tied to the case.

The order explicitly extends to social media platforms, as per the official directive.

Since last week, nine people lost their lives in the incident, with around 50 hospitalized, according to the latest tally published by authorities on Tuesday.

Reports emerged of people experiencing severe symptoms including nausea, dizziness, and respiratory distress after consuming alcoholic beverages.

Investigators successfully traced the source of the toxic alcohol to a single, licensed factory that had distributed its product under various brand names.

Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of methyl alcohol – a substance highly toxic and unfit for human consumption – in both the victims' biological samples and the confiscated products.

The factory has since been shut down, and several suspects have been apprehended pending legal proceedings

Methanol, often referred to as wood alcohol, is typically used for industrial purposes. Ingesting it can lead to severe health complications, including blindness, organ failure, and in fatal cases, death, as the body metabolizes it into highly toxic formic acid.