Two Libyans charged with murder of fellow national in Amman

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday charged two Libyan nationals, including a minor, with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting death of a fellow national on Monday, official sources said.

The victim, 22, was found burnt beyond recognition in a rented car at the Amman National Park, according to a statement by the Public Security Department (PSD).

“The Civil Defence Department was called in to the area to extinguish a burning vehicle, and when they were finished they found a charred body and police were called in,” the PSD statement said.

A special team was formed to investigate and within hours they were able to solve the murder, the senior judicial source said.

“The suspects set the vehicle ablaze in hopes of concealing the identity of the victim and destroying any possible evidence, but investigators were able to identify the person who rented the vehicle from its licence plates and it was one of the defendants,” the judicial source explained.

In his initial confession to Criminal Court Prosecutor Sultan Shakhanbeh, the adult suspect claimed that “the victim falsely accused him of taking money from him and had threatened to expose him”.

The adult suspect allegedly lured the victim with the help of the minor and they drove in a rented vehicle to a deserted area “where the adult suspect shot him once in the head and then drove the vehicle to a secluded area in the park and set it ablaze using gasoline and coal”, the judicial source said, quoting initial confessions by the suspects.

The victim was already dead when the suspects torched the vehicle, the source said, quoting government autopsy results.

The adult suspect and the victim were both students at an aviation academy in Jordan, the source said.

The adult suspect will face premeditated murder charges, while the minor, who is 17 years, was charged with complicity in premeditated murder, according to the judicial source.

The suspects were ordered detention for 15 days at a correctional centre and a juvenile detention centre pending further investigation into the case.