Marriage feud turns bloody: Brothers jailed for murder attempt on brother-in-law

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December Criminal Court ruling to sentence  two brothers to prison terms ranging from six to 10 years in prison after convicting them of attempting to murder their brother-in-law in Amman in July 2011.

The Criminal Court handed one defendant a 10-year prison term and his brother, who drove the vehicle to the scene of the shooting on July 20, to six years and eight months in prison on attempted murder charges.

Court documents said the defendants pledged to murder the victim “because he married their sister without their consent; and prepared weapons for this purpose”.  

The victim had also attacked one of the defendants with a sharp object one day before the incident following a heated argument about a marriage feud, according to court papers.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the two brothers headed to the victim’s house and called him to come out. 

“The minute they saw him, one of the brothers fired at him, striking him in the neck, back and shoulder, and fled the scene,” court papers said.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital and survived the shooting incident following medical intervention, court papers said.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general had asked the higher court to uphold the sentence against the defendants, stating that the court had abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendants.

The Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgement fell within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab, Hamad Ghzawi and Naji Zu’bi.