'Honour' killing dad jailed
2009-12-08 20:16
Amman - A Jordanian court sentenced a man to 15 years' hard labour on Tuesday after convicting him of killing his daughter for allegedly having sex with her husband before their marriage in 2007.
"The man, in his sixties, knew that his daughter, 25, was involved in an affair with a man, and decided to allow her to marry him," a judicial official told AFP.
"But after the wedding he shot her several times. He made sure she was dead, before handing himself in to police and confessing to the crime."
The official gave no further details.
Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour" cases a court sometimes commutes or reduces sentences, particularly if the victim's family urges leniency.
On Monday, a man was charged with premeditated murder after stabbing to death his 30-year-old married sister over her alleged "bad behaviour", in the Gaza refugee camp in the northern city of Jerash.
Between 15 and 20 women are murdered each year in Jordan in the name of honour, despite government efforts to fight such crimes.
- SAPA