Second sister shot in Naour ‘honour crime’ dies

AMMAN — A 27-year-old woman, who was allegedly shot by her brothers in Naour last week, died from her wounds in hospital on Sunday, a senior official said.

The victim, the mother of a newborn, was shot along with her 34-year-old sister allegedly by their brothers while at a farm in Naour on Thursday night.

Her sister died instantly, while she received two bullets in the thigh and remained in critical condition in hospital.

“The victim unfortunately died today after suffering from heavy bleeding because the bullet hit a major artery,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The source added that the suspects in the murder, the victims’ two brothers, aged 24 and 22, and the 20-year-old husband of the younger sister, have all been charged with two counts of premeditated murder by Criminal Court Prosecutor Loai Obeidat.

“Obeidat is still questioning witnesses in the case and has ordered that the suspects be detained at a correctional facility for 15 days pending further investigation,” the judicial source said.

The incident occurred on Thursday night when the two brothers allegedly headed to the farm where their sisters were staying.

One of them “opened fire from a pump-action rifle, while the second stood next to the door so that the sisters could not flee”, a source told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

In their initial statement to the prosecutor, the suspects claimed that their older sister would often leave the house without her family’s permission, and was detained by the administrative governor on several occasions, the source said.

The younger sister reportedly delivered a baby girl out of wedlock in June, and later married the father of her child, who is the third suspect, according to the judicial source.

The two brothers claimed that the third suspect contacted them on Thursday to inform them that their sisters were at the farm “and asked them to come and cleanse their family honour”.

“The third suspect denied these claims, saying that he was constantly targeted by the two brothers because of the affair he had with their sister,” the source explained.

Sunday’s victim became the fifth person to be killed in Jordan during the past week in so-called honour murders.

A father and his son were charged with shooting their female relative and a man in Jubeiha neighbourhood on October 9 “to cleanse their family’s honour because the victim left her family’s home without their approval”.

A day earlier in Madaba, an 18-year-old man was arrested for murdering his sister while she slept because he found a mobile phone with her that the family had no knowledge of.