‘Family of murdered Karak merchant want public execution of suspect’

AMMAN — The family of Turki Sarairah, who was shot dead at his shop in Karak’s Mutah town last week, demanded that the suspected killer’s father execute him in public.

In a statement that was made available to The Jordan Times, the Sarairah family said it expects an atwa that will occur on Friday to result in the “father of the suspect taking the law into his own hands and killing his son in the same place that their son was killed, using the same weapon”.

“The suspect’s father and his family are expected to comply with the demands of our family,” the statement added.

Atwa, a truce that entails acknowledging the wrongdoing on the part of the perpetrators, is usually headed by dignitaries who visit the victim’s family to agree on all clauses.

Sarairah, 40, the father of two children, was shot to death by the 34-year-old suspect at his shop in Mutah, Karak, some 140km south of Amman, last Friday.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Tayseer Bani Khalid charged the suspect with premeditated murder and possession of an unlicensed gun.

Bani Khalid told The Jordan Times on Thursday that justice will be served once the suspect is indicted through legal channels.

“The family’s statement and the atwa is something that does not concern us. We abide by the law and will proceed to try the suspect as stipulated by the law,” the prosecutor stressed.

In his initial testimony to the police and Bani Khalid, the suspect confessed to killing Sarairah “because the victim and his father owed him money”. 

Limited riots took place in Mutah on Tuesday night, shortly after the police announced the arrest of the suspect, but Gendarmerie Department forces contained the situation, according to official sources.