Burnt body of boy found in Sweifieh, ‘foul play probable’

AMMAN — Authorities on Sunday said they were trying to identify a child who was found burnt and possibly murdered in a building under construction in an Amman neighbourhood, judicial and police sources said.

The boy, estimated to be 12 years old, was fully burnt with the exception of his face, and a man found his body in a basement of a building under construction in Sweifieh, a senior judicial source said.

“We are still unable to determine the identity of the child and foul play is highly probable,” Public Security Department Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, the judicial source told The Jordan Times that investigators are questioning the man who found the child, and he is “considered a suspect for the time being”.

“The boy was found in a secluded area in the basement, and we are highly suspicious of the person who reported finding him and consider him our prime suspect unless proven otherwise,” the judicial source said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Baker Qaran on Sunday ordered that the child’s body be transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy, the source added.

“The autopsy is expected to be conducted today [Monday] and hopefully it will give investigators more clues as to what happened to the child,” the judicial source said.

Qaran also ordered coroners at the scene to lift blood and tissue samples and send them to the crime lab for further analysis and DNA testing, according to the source.

Sartawi said police are reviewing missing persons’ files in hopes of identifying the child.