Jordanian lawmakers are calling on the government to amend laws that allow for the imprisonment of indebted people who are insolvent despite international treaties. Mutaz Abu Rumman, one of the 100 members of the Lower House who signed a petition in July to amend the penal code and the judicial execution law, told Al-Monitor that over 250,000 Jordanians inside the kingdom and abroad are wanted for failing to pay debts or for writing bad checks. Thousands of others have been jailed on similar charges.

The number of insolvent individuals and businesses has been on the rise in recent years due to worsening economic conditions, with unemployment currently standing at 19.5% and absolute poverty across the kingdom estimated at more than 15%.

Activists and families of indebted people staged a protest near the royal court on Dec. 21 — one of many in recent months — calling for the abrogation of an article in the judicial execution law that allows a creditor to demand that an indebted person be imprisoned unless a settlement that meets certain requirements is reached. An indebted person can be imprisoned multiple times if repayment is not made.

Saleh al-Armouti, another lawmaker who signed the petition, told Al-Monitor that at least 300 major merchants have fled the kingdom this year alone because they have become insolvent and now face arrest warrants. Armouti and Abu Rumman want the government to amend the penal code was enacted in 1960 to prevent the imprisonment of debtors, with the exception of cases of fraud, while preserving the rights of creditors.