Man kills two-year-old daughter to torment ex-wife in Jordan; sentenced to death

Jordan's Court of Cassation has upheld the death sentence by hanging for a man convicted of murdering his two-year-old daughter in February, 2024.

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The man suffocated his child and sent photos of her body to her mother to "inflict emotional pain and distress" after seeing photos of his ex-wife with “another person” on WhatsApp – according to the court’s ruling.

The defendant had previously been sentenced twice by the Grand Criminal Court. In June 2024, the court initially convicted him of premeditated murder but later downgraded the charge to intentional killing, sentencing him to 20 years of hard labor. The case was subsequently reviewed twice by the Court of Cassation.

In September 2024, the Court of Cassation overturned the lower court's ruling and returned the case for reconsideration of the sentence.

In November 2024, the Grand Criminal Court reclassified the crime as premeditated murder under Article 328/1 of the Penal Code and sentenced the defendant to death.

The crime, which occurred in February 2024, was detailed in court documents. The victim's mother had filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences and received a final ruling from the Sharia court. Despite the defendant's repeated attempts to reconcile, his ex-wife refused.

According to the court, the defendant threatened his ex-wife, saying, "I will break your heart over your daughter."

On the day of the crime, the defendant saw photos of his ex-wife with “another person” on WhatsApp. In a fit of rage, he took his daughter to an empty plot of land in the Sahab area. Holding her in his lap, he suffocated her by covering her nose and mouth with his hands until she died.

After confirming her death, he took photos of her lifeless body and sent them to his ex-wife along with a voice recording admitting to the murder. The defendant then called his brother to confess what he had done before being apprehended by authorities.

The Court of Cassation's ruling stated, "The defendant’s actions—taking his two-year-old daughter to an isolated area, suffocating her, photographing her corpse, and sending the images to his ex-wife to cause her emotional pain—fulfill all the legal elements of premeditated murder."

The ruling affirmed that the punishment imposed by the Grand Criminal Court falls within the legal framework for such a crime, and the death sentence was upheld.