Two Jordanians sentenced to death over ‘honor killing’

The criminal court in Amman on Sunday sentenced two Jordanian men to death for killing their sister in June “to cleanse the family’s honour,” a court official said.

“The two men, aged 23 and 20, took their divorced sister, also in her twenties, to the garden of their house and strangled her in June 2013,” in Zarqa, a city northeast of Amman, the official told AFP.

“They confessed to killing their sister, who worked in a kindergarten after suspecting that she had behaved badly,” the official said without elaborating.

“They said that they wanted to cleanse the family’s honor,” the official added.

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan, but in “honor killings” courts usually commute or reduce sentences if the victim’s family requests leniency.

Maximum punishment

“For the first time in several years, the family of the victim refused to ask the court for leniency, demanding the maximum punishment,” another court official told AFP without giving further details.

Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called “honor” murders each year in the kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

A study by Cambridge University’s Institute of Criminology in June said many Jordanian teenagers believe killing a daughter, sister or wife who has “dishonored” or shamed the family is justified.