The Anti-Beggery Directorate at the Ministry of Social Development arrested 53 adult and juvenile beggars in various regions of the Kingdom last Friday, and they were referred to the judiciary.

The media spokesman at the Ministry of Social Development, Ashraf Khreis, told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) today, Monday, that the Anti-Beggery Directorate in the Ministry of Social Development, in cooperation with the Public Security Directorate, implemented a campaign last Friday to arrest beggars in the various governorates of the Kingdom.

Khreis added that the campaign focused on mosques and public markets, where beggars beg for people’s emotions in various forms and tricks, stressing that anti-beggary campaigns are continuing.

He demanded that the citizens should not sympathize with the beggars, indicating that the social studies of the arrested beggars, which the Ministry is conducting for the seized cases, showed that all the beggars who were caught are healthy in addition to being able to work, and the majority of them are able-bodied, but they have taken begging as a profession.

Begging is considered forbidden according to the fatwa issued by the General Iftaa Department, and laws and legislation criminalize begging for a sum of money or imprisonment, depending on the case of recurrence.