Man sentenced to 12 years for killing 14-year-old sister in name of 'family honour'

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld an April 2021 Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a 25-year-old man to 12 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his sister for reasons related to "family honour" in Madaba in May of 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of murdering his 14-year-old sister by stabbing her once in the back while at her family’s home on May 6, and proceeded to hand him a 20-year prison term.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to 12 years after the victim’s father and mother dropped the charges against their son.

Court documents said the defendant was checking his mobile phone and discovered that his younger sister “was texting men via his device”.

“The defendant also saw a photo of his sister with a man in a deserted area,” the court documents stated.

The defendant went to his parents’ room and “showed them the chat and the photo of his sibling with another man,” according to court documents.

The defendant then went to the living room where the victim was sitting and slapped her in the face, the court papers said.

“The defendant grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his sister once in the back,” said the court documents.

The victim’s father pulled the kitchen knife from his daughter’s back “and rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival”, according to the court papers.

The brother then fled from his family’s home and was later arrested by the police, the court documents stated.

The Criminal Court’s general attorney asked the court to uphold the sentence.

Meanwhile, the defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling through his lawyer, claiming that he “should receive a reduced sentence because he is young, and his sister committed shameful and disgraceful acts that are not acceptable by anyone, including the defendant”.

However, the Court of Cassation rejected his claims and ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling was accurate and the defendant deserved the sentence he had received.

“The defendant had confessed to killing his sister and provided explicit details to the police and the Criminal Court prosecutor,” the Court of Cassation said.

The Court of Cassation bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Hayel Amr, Fawzi Nahar and Nayef Samarat.

Social media outlets expressed their shock and dismay over the stabbing incident, and called on the Jordanian justice system to inflict the maximum punishment on the perpetrator.

A woman named Bayan T. tweeted: “He committed a crime … he murdered his own sister… making excuses and covering up for him is truly ridiculous!”

User Haitham Q. also tweeted denouncing the incident, stating, “I am sure there are many cases of violence that occur on a daily basis that are not reported. We need to have stricter laws that would act as a deterrent for anyone who thinks this way. These are the real acts of violence that need to be stopped in our community”.