Jordan records 27 family crimes leading to 25 homicides, SIGI calls for legal reforms

AMMAN — Solidarity Is Global Institute (SIGI) on Wednesday said that the Kingdom witnessed 27 family crimes that resulted in 25 homicides last year.

Of the 25 homicides, 16 were female victims, according to a statement by SIGI.

In addition, SIGI stated that three attempted murders within Jordanian families resulted in five injuries in 2023.

“Perpetrators of these crimes mostly used sharp objects such as knives, daggers, meat cleavers and, in one incident a machete was reportedly used by a brother to kill his sister on one of the governorates,” according to SIGI.

The women’s groups pointed out that the Capital witnessed the highest number of family crimes with 37 per cent (12 crimes), followed by Irbid with 22 per cent (6 crimes) and Karak governorate with 18.5 per cent (5 crimes).

SIGI called on the government to scrap an article in the Jordanian Penal Code that offers clemency for crime perpetrators if the victim’s family drops charges against them.

SIGI also reiterated its call for the establishment of a national monitoring system to document and analyse cases of murders within the Jordanian families in the Kingdom.

In July of this year, SIGI invited former police officials, experts and activists for a one-day event to discuss strategies that would work to ensure better protection for family members.

One of the calls was a call for the establishment of a national monitoring system to document and analyse cases of murders within Jordanian families.

The participants also called for reactivating the Family Protection Law and canceling the right for families to waive their legal rights when the perpetrator of a crime is a family member.

In addition, the gathering called for establishing a specialised entity to analyse and look for the reason behind some of the heinous crimes that are committed within families.