Cassation Court upholds death penalty for man convicted of barber’s murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to death after convicting him of murdering a barber in Amman in March 2023.

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing the 44-year-old victim multiple times on March 7 in Nazal neighbourhood and handed him the capital punishment.

Court papers said the defendant believed that the victim was bad-mouthing him and decided to revenge.

On the day of the incident, the court documents said, “The defendant grabbed a 13-centimetre switchblade and headed to the victim’s shop”.

“The defendant attacked the victim with a knife and stabbed him repeatedly on different parts of his body,” the court said.

The defendant’s knife broke so he grabbed a scissor and “followed the victim who ran outside the shop,” according to court documents.

“The victim fell so the defendant sat on him and continued stabbing him with the scissors until he made sure he was dead,” court papers added.

The defendant fled from the area but was later arrested by police who viewed surveillance footage obtained from the barber’s shop that documented the entire incident,” the court stated.

 The defendant contested his verdict at a higher court through his lawyer arguing that the court did not follow proper legal procedures.

The defence also claimed that their client was mentally ill and should be acquitted, the court stated.

Meanwhile, 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 when sentencing and the defendant deserved the verdict he received. 

The higher court also stated that the defence team “did not provide the court with any medical reports to prove that their client suffered from any form of mental illness”.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Rizeq Abulfool, Majid Rafayah, Fawzi Nahar and Qassem Dughmi.