Dear Friends:
Attached is an article about Jordan. When you read the article please keep
in mind that Jordan is supposed to be one of the more progressive and
civilized countries in the Arab world, ruled by an enlightened monarch, who
was educated in the West.
Regards,
FRIZ
The Jordan Times
Wednesday, January 1, 2003
Father given 6 months for stabbing daughter 25 times
By Rana Husseini
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews4.htm
AMMAN — A 65-year-old father walked out of Criminal Court a free man on
Tuesday after receiving six months in prison for killing his teenage
daughter in Hiteen refugee camp in April 2002.
The court invoked Article 98 of the Jordanian Penal Code, reducing Hussein
Ahmad's charge because he killed his daughter in a “fit of rage.”
The court said Ahmad stabbed his daughter Amal, 18, over 25 times following
an argument only hours after signing a guarantee that he would not harm her.
The victim had been missing for three weeks and was found by police in
Aqaba, the court said.
On April 21, the day of the murder, the governor contacted the defendant and
informed him that his daughter was in government custody. The father went
and signed a guarantee that he would not harm or kill his daughter, the
court said.
Shortly after arriving home, however, the defendant took his daughter to a
room and closed the door behind him, the court record said. The defendant
began questioning his daughter about her disappearance, preaching to her to
be a good girl, the record continued, but she replied: “It is my life. I am
free to do what I want.”
The defendant told the court the victim pushed him so he became aggressive,
“which caused me to lose control and become enraged because of her actions.”
The court said Ahmad drew a knife he carried due to the nature of his job as
the employee of a junkyard, stabbed his daughter all over her body, and then
went out and told his family he had killed her.
Amal's siblings and mother testified in court that they had heard her
“answering her father, telling him `it is not your business...I am free to
do whatever I want...this is my life,'” then heard banging in the room, and
minutes later Ahmad emerged declaring he killed Amal.
In its Tuesday ruling, the tribunal said the defendant benefited from a
penalty reduction because of the victim's “dangerous and unlawful actions.”
“The victim was screaming and declaring in the open that she would do
whatever she wanted and refused to stop leaving her house, which enraged her
father,” read the court record.
“Her bad conduct and challenge of her father caused the defendant to become
enraged. His anger was obvious because of the number of stabs [25] he
inflicted upon his daughter,” it added.
In an earlier story reported by The Jordan Times in April, when the woman
was first reported killed, medical officials who examined her said they
proved she had not been involved in any sexual activities and that her hymen
was intact.
Amal had told interrogators when held in custody that she often left the
house because her father was restricting her mobility.