I am enraged so I can go out and murder someone
According to the Jordan Times today one can just go out and commit murder and get set free if you are 'in a fit of fury'. I think I will take a machine gun and spray all the drivers who drive me to utter madness, give myself in saying I had done it in a fit of fury and get off under Article 98.
Seriously though this case is just another that reflects badly on the Jordanian legal system. This father was not defending himself he decided to murder his son because of his behaviour. Most countries have degrees of murder and if it is committed whilst 'the balance of mind was disturbed' can be a mitigating factor. But these cases of so-called 'honour' are just murder (even though this one did not have that defence). Please Judges, get your acts together and sentence those who murder other human beings to appropriate jail time. T
Man convicted of killing son walks free
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - A 55-year-old man convicted of murdering his son walked free from the Criminal Court last week after receiving a reduced sentence.
The court sentenced Mohammad S. to three months in prison after convicting him of murdering his 22-year-old son while he slept on November 23, 2007.
The victim had been a troublemaker for the past 10 years, but the family took no action against him to maintain their familial bond, according to court transcripts.
A few weeks before the incident, the victim had a fight with one of his brothers, the court said.
“The victim’s mother tried to intervene but he pushed her aside, spat on her and uttered bad words in the presence of the defendant,” the court said.
The victim then drew a switchblade and threatened his brothers before leaving the house, it added.
“He returned later that night and slept on the couch. The defendant, still enraged by the incident, brought a machinegun and showered his son with bullets while he slept,” the court said.
The 55-year-old defendant turned himself in to police shortly after the shooting and informed them that he killed his son because he was a troublemaker.
The court amended the manslaughter charges originally pressed against the defendant to a misdemeanor as stipulated in Article 98 because the defendant committed his crime in a fit of fury.
“The victim’s actions caused the defendant to lose his temper and proper thinking and the killed his son without prior planning,” the court said in its ruling.
Mohammad S. was able to walk free as he had already served three months while on trial.
The verdict is subject to appeal by the general attorney at the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.
Seriously though this case is just another that reflects badly on the Jordanian legal system. This father was not defending himself he decided to murder his son because of his behaviour. Most countries have degrees of murder and if it is committed whilst 'the balance of mind was disturbed' can be a mitigating factor. But these cases of so-called 'honour' are just murder (even though this one did not have that defence). Please Judges, get your acts together and sentence those who murder other human beings to appropriate jail time. T
Man convicted of killing son walks free
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - A 55-year-old man convicted of murdering his son walked free from the Criminal Court last week after receiving a reduced sentence.
The court sentenced Mohammad S. to three months in prison after convicting him of murdering his 22-year-old son while he slept on November 23, 2007.
The victim had been a troublemaker for the past 10 years, but the family took no action against him to maintain their familial bond, according to court transcripts.
A few weeks before the incident, the victim had a fight with one of his brothers, the court said.
“The victim’s mother tried to intervene but he pushed her aside, spat on her and uttered bad words in the presence of the defendant,” the court said.
The victim then drew a switchblade and threatened his brothers before leaving the house, it added.
“He returned later that night and slept on the couch. The defendant, still enraged by the incident, brought a machinegun and showered his son with bullets while he slept,” the court said.
The 55-year-old defendant turned himself in to police shortly after the shooting and informed them that he killed his son because he was a troublemaker.
The court amended the manslaughter charges originally pressed against the defendant to a misdemeanor as stipulated in Article 98 because the defendant committed his crime in a fit of fury.
“The victim’s actions caused the defendant to lose his temper and proper thinking and the killed his son without prior planning,” the court said in its ruling.
Mohammad S. was able to walk free as he had already served three months while on trial.
The verdict is subject to appeal by the general attorney at the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.
posted by joladies at Wednesday, April 09, 2008
6 Comments:
I'm disgusted by the court's leniency in cases involving cold blooded MURDER in Jordan. Fortunately we have the internet which allows us to expose such travesties to the world.
As far as I'm concerned, the court is just as guilty as the perpetrator of the crime.
And you're right, under such a law, I could go out and shoot every bad driver in Jordan in a fit of rage and only serve a couple of days in prison.
How did the guy get a machine gun anyway? Aren't those illegal to own in Jordan? Why aren't they at least punishing him for using an illegal weapon? Idiots!
By the way, if I did shoot every bad driver in Jordan, that would leave a population of...what?...50,000 or so people. :P
Dave,it is about49,000.
Sory to disagrre Dave and Hamede, I expect it's closer to like 10.
And, you know, if anything I think the parents who failed to discipline the son before he became a "troublemaker" should be take to task rather than rewarded for killing the son. Please! So, a 12 year old was too much for you to discipline? Then, I expect it started MUCH, MUCH earlier.
If this story is true then we have a major serious problem with our legal system. Well we do have wasta's so this could be the case here?
We have two problems in the legal code here - one is the "fit of fury" defense (which by the way seems to have been picked up by many Arab countries's "modern" laws from the Napolenoic Code (yes, France!). The other is the assumption that the life of a child or a wife "belongs" to the father and/or husband. If he decides to "take" it and the rest of the family drop charges against him, then it is OK not to punish him. What's wrong here is that if there is a law against murder, then the murder is a crime against the whole commmunity and not only against one person or one family. The victim's family shouldn't have the right to over ride the law. They can forgive him if they want to but society should not!
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