Execution Law amendments meant to shorten litigation duration — minister

AMMAN — Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni on Tuesday said the recent amendments to the Execution Law were made to shorten the long periods of litigation blamed on recurrent appeals, whose frequency was unlimited. 

Talhouni said the current draft law has addressed this shortcoming by limiting the right to appeal execution decisions to only 10 cases, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

One of the problems of the existing Execution Law is that it allows persons sentenced to pay financial dues to plaintiffs to deposit 25 per cent as a down payment from the total claim, and pay the rest of the sum in monthly instalments with no limited time frame, which could extend the payback period to 150 years or more in some cases, according to the minister.  

The 2015 draft execution law, however, raised the down payment to 50 per cent of the claim, while the remaining part should be paid in instalments within a period not exceeding three years, according to the draft’s text posted on the website of the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, the Cabinet’s legislation arm.

The new draft law fixed more issues by limiting the publication of notifications to “leading” newspapers in order to allow the public to exercise their right of appeal or contest, according to Talhouni.

In addition, the draft law includes articles that cater to human rights, preventing the imprisonment of those who are proved with no means to pay their debts or those who are aged 70 years and above, the official told Petra.

The Lower House began discussing the amendments to the present Execution Law in its extraordinary session, which concluded this week, and is expected to continue deliberations over the amended law in the upcoming ordinary session, expected to start in October.