Rights group criticizes Jordan over debt imprisonment
Human Rights Watch has highlighted the plight of poor Jordanians imprisoned for failing to pay back loans taken out to meet basic needs.
A leading human rights organization criticized the Jordanian government on Tuesday for imprisoning people over unpaid debt.
Human Rights Watch said that poor Jordanians sometimes need to turn to informal lenders to cover essential expenses. If they cannot pay their lenders back, they are prosecuted, according to the New York-based organization’s Middle East researcher.
“Under Jordanian law, if you take out a loan and can’t pay it, you go to jail,” said Sara Kayyali in a press release. “In many cases, people take out loans to pay for rent, groceries, medical bills. But instead of helping those in need, the authorities jail them.”
The lengthy report in English and Arabic details struggles Jordanians charged with failing to pay back loans have faced. One section tells the story of a doctor who was sentenced to several months in prison after his creditors filed a complaint against him. The doctor was unable to make his car loan and mortgage payments after developing a bone disease that rendered him unable to work. He made some of the loan payments from his savings, but was convicted in absentia while receiving medical treatment abroad, according to Human Rights Watch.
