Court upholds death penalty in revenge murder case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to death after convicting him of murdering a man to avenge his brother’s murder in Amman in July 2017.

The court declared the defendant guilty of the premeditated shooting and killing of the victim on July 25 and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court documents said that one of the defendant’s brothers was murdered by one of the victim’s family members in 2013, and he took revenge.

The victim and his family had left the area they were residing in, as stipulated in tribunal rulings that required their family and other extended family members to relocate to a different area, the court said.

Nevertheless, the court maintained the defendant and other family members kept searching for the victim and his family “until they were able to locate their new location”.

On the day of the incident, the defendant headed to the victim’s residence in a vehicle driven by one of his relatives, the court added. 

“The defendant spotted the victim walking in the street, so he pointed a gun at him and shot him several times to make sure that he would die, then left the scene quickly,” according to court documents.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival, court papers said.

The defendant contested the verdict through his lawyer, arguing that he “did not plot the murder and that he met the victim by coincidence and was armed at the time and decided to shoot and kill him to take revenge”. 

The defence attorney also argued that the court “failed to hear the testimony of several defence witnesses in the case”.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general, meanwhile, asked the higher court to uphold the death sentence.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court had followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and that he deserved the verdict he had received. 

“It is proven to the court that the defendant plotted the murder and prepared the weapon, and was constantly looking for the victim’s residence,” the higher court ruled.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Bassem Mubeidin, Hammad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Saeed Mugheid.