'Committee representing 25,000 property owners to protest court ruling stripping them of rights'

AMMAN — A committee representing more than 25,000 property owners in the capital's Jubeiha area, who are affected by a court ruling that revoked their ownership, is planning a sit-in to demand that the authorities safeguard their rights.

The committee voiced anger over inaction by officials on this issue and said owners were planning to escalate their protests, according to one of the property owners, who preferred to remain anonymous.

"We held several meetings over the past few weeks and decided that a sit-in will be held soon to draw the government's attention to the issue," the owner told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday.

"We want a solution. It does not make sense that after years of buying our houses legally we lose them in a blink of an eye," said the owner, who bought an apartment in the early 1990s in the area.

Citing a statement by the committee, the owner said many of those negatively affected by the issue were panicking because of the possibility of losing their properties, which they bought legally and via the concerned authorities.

In December last year, owners of around 25 properties in Jubeiha area, writing on behalf of more than 25,000 fellow owners of land and houses, published an appeal in Al Rai daily to urge Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to intervene after a court ruling was issued the previous month.

The court ruling stated that the ownership of more than 226 dunums of land, where around 25,000 properties have been built, would revert to the original owners, who recently won a lawsuit after claiming that their lands were sold using forged documents.