Jordanian Gets Reduced Sentence for 'Honor Killing'

A Jordanian court has reduced the sentence of a man who killed his daughter because she left home without her husband's knowledge from death to 10 years in jail, an official said Thursday.

"On January 29, the court initially condemned the man to death but gave him a reduced jail sentence after the family dropped all legal claims against him," the judicial official told Agence France Presse.

"He has confessed to shooting and killing his daughter, who was in her late 20s, because she left her house for several days without her husband's knowledge."

He said the crime took place on November 13, 2012 in Ruseifeh, east of the capital Amman.

"The convict, who is in his 50s, has also confessed that he killed the woman to cleanse the family's honor," the official added.

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan, but in so-called "honor killings" courts usually commute or reduce sentences if the victim's family requests leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honor killings in Jordan each year, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.