Man gets six-month sentence for killing daughter in Jordan

A Jordanian man was sentenced to six months in prison on Wednesday for murdering his 16-year-old daughter by electrocution in an apparent "honour killing," a court source said.

"In November 2006, the man lost consciousness after his daughter told him that she had slept with a young man. She also cursed him and said it was none of his business," the source told AFP.

"When the enraged man woke up, he beat the girl on the head with a stick and electrocuted her by attaching bare electric wires to her body. She died immediately."

The father committed the crime in the exclusive Abdoun area, west of Amman, and was charged with murder after he confessed to murdering his daughter "to cleanse the family's honour," the source said.

The source refused to give the name of the father.

Jordanian authorities recorded a total of 17 so-called traditional "honour killings" in 2007, a slight increase compared to previous years.

The killers often receive light sentences if convicted, as parliament has refused to reform the penal code to end the near impunity of the perpetrators.

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