MADINAH, 13 December 2003 — The Ministry of Islamic Affairs here has threatened to evict 18 families — 250 people in all — from a building it says is derelict.
The ministry says the building is unfit for habitation and has threatened to cut off the building’s power to force the residents to leave. It is not providing alternative housing for them.
But residents say there is nothing wrong with the building, adding that businesses on the ground floor have not been given notice to vacate, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
The paper said most residents were poor and included many divorced women, widows and small children.
Majed Suwailem, the head of a family of 17, told the paper an official from the ministry threatened residents with forcible eviction if they did not agree to leave. “There are ten shops in the building and shop owners were not asked to leave,” he added.
“Why are we the only ones who were asked to leave? I am an old man with a big family. I don’t have anywhere else to go,” he said.
The newspaper said its reporter visited the building — in Al-Salam Street — and found it “in excellent condition and very clean.”
