The Jordanian Court of Cassation

JORDAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF RELATIVE

July 6, 2023:

The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to death after he was convicted of murdering a 69-year-old relative in June 2021, The Jordan Times reported on July 5, 2023.
The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing the victim to death on June 14 and sentenced him to capital punishment.
The victim passed away on June 28 following medical complications that arose from the assault.
Court papers indicated that the defendant had previously filed a complaint against the victim after discovering that the victim sexually harassed his daughter.
The defendant later arrived at the victim's house and “decided to take revenge and decided to kill him”, the court documents said.
“The minute he saw the victim, the defendant pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times in the stomach and back,” the court stated.
The court added that the defendant turned himself in at the nearest police station following the incident. 
The defendant contested the verdict through his lawyer, who argued that the court did not follow proper legal procedures.
The Criminal Court’s general attorney asked the Court of Cassation to uphold the ruling.  
The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedure and that the defendant's sentence was appropriate.  
The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Mohammad Khsashshneh and Qassem Dughmi.
In the past four years, 63 people have been sentenced to death in Jordan. According to local activists, there are currently 219 convicts on death row, including 22 women.
Between 2006 and 2014, Jordan maintained an eight-year pause on the death penalty, which ended in December 2014 when authorities executed 11 individuals for various crimes.
Article 93 of the Constitution reads that “no death sentence may be carried out unless ratified by the King. Every such sentence shall be submitted to him by the Cabinet along with the Cabinet’s view on it."