Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - King Abdullah II on Tuesday instructed the government to release of the 20 Jordanian pro-reform activists who were arrested and detained pending trial in the past two months, Petra News Agency reported.

The King directed Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to take necessary measures to release detained protesters in accordance with relevant laws.

Twenty detainees - all members of pro-reform groups - have been arrested across the country between 15 July and 4 October, either during or following peaceful protests throughout the country, calling for legal and economic reforms, greater political freedoms, and an end to corruption.

Several of the detainees were being tried by the State Security Court, Jordan's special military tribunal, on anti-regime charges and charges of attempting to overthrow the regime and the constitution.

In detainees are being kept in a number of local prisons, including the Zarqa, Muaqqar, Ermenim, and al-Hashmiyyah prisons. Several detainees went on hunger strikes in the past month to protest their arrest and continued detention.

Various pro-reform movements and opposition political parties in the past month have called for the release of the activists, which became one of the first demands people asked from the new government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

Ensour had announced earlier that releasing the detainees requires a special pardon directly from the King.

The detainees were expected to be released later on Tuesday evening.

But an official source at the Military Prosecution in the State Security Court told Ammon News that the court had already closed for the day, which means that the requests for bail cannot be processed today.

The source told Ammon News that requesting bail for the release of detainees requires a monetary fee, and the accountant for the court had already left for the day.