Cassation Court starts reviewing ruling in honour killing case

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has started reviewing a Criminal Court ruling against a 50-year-old man convicted of murdering his daughter for reasons related to family honour in Ruseifa last year.

The Criminal Court first handed the death penalty to the defendant two weeks ago for the premeditated murder of his married 22-year-old daughter in 2013, a senior judicial source said.

But the tribunal immediately reduced the sentence to 10 years because the victim’s family dropped charges against the defendant, the judicial source told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

Court papers said the victim ran away from her husband’s house and was found later by the police, after which the administrative governor sent her to prison for her own safety and protection.

On the day of the murder, the defendant signed a guarantee that he would not harm his daughter and took her to his house, the court added.

“The defendant shot and killed his daughter, and then fled, but was later arrested by police,” court said.

The court dismissed the defendant’s arguments that he “murdered his daughter in a moment of rage to cleanse his honour and should benefit from a reduction in penalty as stipulated in Article 98 of the Penal Code”.

It was evident to court that the defendant plotted the murder although he tried to claim that his daughter cursed and hit him while telling him and that she was free to do whatever she wanted, the judicial source said.

The defendant even tried to claim that the weapon he used in the murder “was in the kitchen by coincidence”, the source added.

“The tribunal found his one-sided story hard to believe and decided to hand him the maximum punishment,” the judicial source said.

The Criminal Court tribunal comprised justices Talal Aqrabawi, Ayman Ghzawi and Ashraf Abdullah.