Two prominent Jordanian businesswomen found dead in apparent suicide

Two prominent Jordanian businesswomen have died in circumstances described by security sources on Saturday as an act of "suicide" but contested as suspicious by friends and family.

Jumanan and Soraya Salti reportedly died after jumping from the roof of a building under construction in the Jweideh area of the capital Amman.

A janitor working at a nearby building reportedly found their bodies after hearing a thud and called the police. The cause of their deaths is still being ascertained by the police.

Their family said they had been playing golf at the Bisharat Golf Club on the day of their deaths.

The deaths of Jumanan and Soraya, the latter the founder of the Injaz Al Arab education initiative and the former a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has shocked Jordanian society and left those who knew them incredulous at suggestions of suicide.

“I find it difficult to believe that they have committed suicide,” Marwan Muasher, a former foreign minister and former deputy prime minister, wrote on his Facebook page. “I knew both and they were full of life and loved life. I was Jumana’s basketball coach when she was eight.”

“This is certainly a crime. There is no way they committed suicide. Horrible, horrible news. May they rest in peace and may the truth be out,” wrote another person claiming to know the sisters, on their Facebook page, quoted in the Jordan Times.