Only in Jordan: Three Years in Prison for Harnessing the Sun

Eng. Saleem Al Batayneh

“In our neighborhood, there’s a savage rooster plucking feathers off the hens every morning,” wrote Nizar Qabbani in one of his biting poems.

Today, the Seven Wonders of the World no longer astonish us. In Jordan, we’ve outdone them—with a new absurdity: a proposed law that threatens Jordanian citizens with up to three years in prison or a fine between 100,000 and 200,000 dinars (approx. $140,000–$280,000) for the crime of privately storing solar energy without state permission.

Yes, you read that right. A “law” criminalizing solar independence—a dystopian notion where citizens are effectively forbidden from bottling sunlight unless Big Government says so.

This is not just a legislative misstep—it’s an insult to logic, humanity, and reason. A draconian maneuver wrapped in legal garb, this law reeks of authoritarian overreach and fear-based governance. It turns the state into a medieval sword-bearer, ready to punish anyone who dares to capture sunlight in batteries for personal use.

Let’s call it what it is: madness masquerading as policy. It reflects a state that no longer governs for the people, but exploits them—treating Jordanians as mere tax ID numbers to bankroll budget deficits and sustain elite luxuries.

Even in the darkest days of martial law, such grotesque laws didn’t exist. So one must ask: Do the Jordanian people deserve this?

For years, we’ve cried out: stop robbing people of their livelihoods. Yet each successive government seems more determined to squeeze every last dinar from citizens’ pockets. The kingdom has been reduced to a for-profit corporation, and the ever-growing debt is merely taxation deferred—to be collected later, with interest, from a public already pushed to the brink.

This is the age of irony. With no room left to tax land, labor, or life, they’ve turned to the sky. What’s next? Taxing the air we breathe? Charging rent for toilets?

It’s a national farce. In Jordan, sunlight is no longer free—and the energy sector remains a domain of corruption, secrecy, and gross mismanagement. For years, it has been shrouded in deals struck behind closed doors, feeding into the same patronage networks and enriching the same few.

Meanwhile, nations around us sprint ahead in energy reform and innovation. We, in contrast, cripple our people’s minds and initiative, seeking shortcuts and shaking down the vulnerable instead of thinking smart.

Governments fail when the ignorant rise to power—and ours has plenty of proof. Former Prime Minister Ahmad Obeidat once summed it up best: “A minister from the street and a parliamentarian brought in by fraud.”

Sadly, Jordan continues to suffer from:

• Deep, complex crises that grow unchecked.

• A national debt that now exceeds GDP.

• Economic fragility and structural dysfunction.

• A widening development gap and growing cost of debt.

In an era ruled by despair, we are tired—tired of the senselessness, the futility, and the theft of hope.

What we need is not just a policy shift—but a return to reason, and real economic and political actors who can lead the way forward.

But the real question remains: Where are they? And how do we find them?

Until then, we wait—in hope, and with love.