Three men charged over ‘honour killing’ in Naour farm

AMMAN — Three men were charged on Saturday with the murder of a woman and the attempted murder of her sister in a so-called honour crime on Thursday in Naour, officials said. 

Two brothers, a 24-year-old plumber and a 22-year-old farmer, were charged with the premeditated murder of their sister, 34, and the attempted murder of their 27-year-old sister. 

A third man, the 20-year-old husband of the younger sister, has also been charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. He worked as a guard on the farm where the alleged shootings took place, a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times. 

The incident occurred on Thursday night when the two brothers allegedly headed to the farm where their sisters were staying. One of them “opened fire from a pump-action rifle, while the second stood next to the door so that the sisters could not flee”, the judicial source said.

“The older sister was killed after being shot five times in the head, back and shoulder, while the younger sister, who hid behind a table, was hit twice in the thigh and her leg might be amputated as a result of the wound,” the source added.

In their initial testimony to Criminal Court Prosecutor Loai Obeidat, the suspects claimed that their older sister would often leave the house without her family’s permission, and was detained by the administrative governor on several occasions, the judicial source said.

The younger sister reportedly delivered a baby girl out of wedlock in June, and later married the father of her child, who is the third suspect in this case, according to the judicial source.

The two brothers claimed that the third suspect contacted them on Thursday to inform them that their sisters were at the farm “and asked them to come and cleanse their family honour”.

“The third suspect denied these claims, saying that he was constantly targeted by the two brothers because of the affair he had with their sister,” the judicial source explained.

The source added that Obeidat is currently investigating these claims, “but for the time being the charges against the husband will remain until proven otherwise”.

“The husband fled the area when he saw the two brothers approaching the farm with the weapons.  That is why he will remain a suspect until further investigations,” the judicial source explained.

The brothers were detained after residents in the area stopped them as they were leaving the farm, a second source said.

“The two suspects were bruised, which means that the people who stopped them disapproved of what they did,” the second source said.

Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi confirmed the shooting incident to The Jordan Times but refused to elaborate, saying the case was in the hands of the judiciary.

Thursday’s victim became the fourth person to be killed in Jordan during the past week in so-called honour murders.

Last week, a father and his son were charged with shooting their female relative and a man who was allegedly with her in Jubeiha neighbourhood on October 9 “to cleanse their family’s honour because the victim left her family’s home without their approval”.

A day earlier in Madaba, an 18-year-old man was arrested for murdering his sister while she slept because he found a mobile phone with her that the family had no knowledge of.