22-year-old man sentenced to death for murdering Zarqa library owner

AMMAN — The Criminal Court on Sunday sentenced a 22-year-old man to death after convicting him of robbing and murdering a library owner in Zarqa in January 2017.

The tribunal sentenced the defendant remotely through special technology as stipulated by law, a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

“The defendant was being held in a correctional rehabilitation facility in Marka some 20 kilometres away from the tribunal’s headquarters in Juweideh, so the presiding judge opted to issue the sentence via a televised connection between the courtroom and the place where the defendant was incarcerated,” the judicial source said.

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing the victim to death with the help of a minor on January 4 and handed him the death penalty.

The minor is being tried separately at a juvenile court, according to the source.

Court papers said the defendant and the minor wanted to travel to Aqaba for “some fun times” but did not have the necessary cash.

“The two plotted to rob and murder the victim, whom they had known for a long time, to obtain some fast cash,” court papers said.

On the day of the murder, the court maintained, the two headed to the victim’s library, with one of them claiming that he had left a bag in the library's storage.

“When the three were inside the storage, the minor jumped on the victim and wrapped his head with a towel, while the defendant drew a switchblade and stabbed the victim repeatedly with it,” court papers said.

The two defendants "waited until they were sure the victim was dead, then took his money, mobile and car and left”, the court added.

“The two defendants attempted to sell the car but were unable to find a buyer, so they set it ablaze,” the court said.

The two were arrested shortly afterwards by police, court papers said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Mohammad Khazaleh had asked the court to inflict the maximum punishment on the defendant.

The tribunal comprised judges Ibrahim Abu Shama, Khalid Abdullat and Ahmad Qatarneh.

The Court of Cassation is expected to start examining the death verdict within the next 30 days.