Jordanian authorities have in the last four years intensified persecution and harassment of political opponents and ordinary citizens using a string of laws to silence critical voices, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday. Authorities used vague laws to detain, interrogate and harass journalists, political activists, members of political parties and independent trade unions, and their family members, and restricted their access to basic rights to quash political dissent, the rights group said in a report. “There is an urgent need to address the downward spiral on rights we are seeing in Jor…