Jordanian to hang for raping, killing girlfriend

AMMAN - Agence France-Presse

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan. Hürriyet photo

A Jordanian was condemned to death today for raping and stabbing his teenage girlfriend to death before burning her body because her family refused to let him marry her, a court official said.
 
"The criminal court in Amman sentenced the 19-year-old to death by hanging for finding him guilty of murdering his girlfriend, who was also 19, in May last year," he told AFP.
 
"He wanted to marry the girl, but her family refused." The official said the convict "got enraged and decided to commit his crime." "He took the girl to a deserted area south of Amman, where he raped and stabbed her to death several times in the neck, chest and stomach," he added.
 
"The next day, he burned her body and turned himself into police, confessing to the murder." Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but, in so-called "honor killings," courts sometimes commute or reduce sentences.
 
Between 15 and 20 women die in such murders each year in the Arab kingdom.