AMMAN, Jordan (AP) – Jordan’s prosecutor has charged a man and his two sons for the premeditated murder of his 19-year-old daughter on Saturday, in the latest honor killing to take place in this conservative desert kingdom.
The man and his two sons are charged with beating to death the daughter for leaving the house in make up and talking to a strange man, according to prosecutor Salah al-Taleb’s indictment sheet.
The father brought his daughter to the hospital after she lost consciousness and turned himself in.
Autopsy showed severe injuries to the head which caused brain hemorrhage and the body was covered with bruises.
If convicted the man could be sentenced to life in jail. The man comes from the eastern Jordanian town of Zarqa, home of deceased Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and known for its conservatism.
In Jordan, an average of 20 women are killed by male relatives each year. Men have the final say in all family matters in this largely conservative Muslim society, where many consider sex out of wedlock an indelible stain on a family’s reputation.
International human rights organizations have condemned honor killings in Jordan and appealed to King Abdullah II to put an end to the practice.
The government urged judges to consider honor killings equal to other homicides, punishable with up to life in prison. But attempts to introduce harsher sentences for honor killings have been blocked in Jordan’s parliament, where the predominantly conservative Bedouin lawmakers argue that tougher penalties would lead to adultery.
Asharq Al-Awsat
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