Jordanian authorities on Sunday arrested a teenager who allegedly confessed to the murder of a four-year-old girl in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage as details of the grisly killing emerge.
Four-year-old Nibal, whose full name is suppressed due to Jordan’s laws on privacy in ongoing criminal case, went missing while playing in her neighbourhood in Zarqa, north of Amman on Wednesday.
The disappearance captured Jordan’s attention, with photos of the toddler and pleas for information on her whereabouts shared widely across social media. An intensive search of the surrounding area included the deployment of police dogs and drones.
On Saturday a sniffer dog discovered the body of the four-year-old lying under a pile of scrap metal in the basement of an apartment building a few hundred metres from her home.
Following an autopsy, pathologists at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Sunday announced that Nibal died from brain damage and internal bleeding after suffering multiple fractures to her skull and body.
A teenage boy who lived in the building where the body was discovered was arrested on Sunday. According to police, the teenager confessed to the murder during questioning in the presence of a legal guardian and police.
According to the police statement, the accused said Nibal and her mother had visited his parent’s home in the apartment building on Wednesday, and he had followed her to the basement intending to sexually assault her.
When the girl began screaming, he clubbed her to death.
After the body was discovered on Saturday, a crowd gathered at the outside the apartment block and attempted to burn the building down. Police called to the scene used tear gas to disperse the stone throwing mob.
One person suffered a fractured skull in Saturday night’s clashes, police said.
Police and gendarme forces have been deployed outside the homes of relatives of the accused to prevent potential revenge attacks.
According to local media reports, the victim’s family agreed to a three-day tribal “atwa,” or truce on Saturday, vowing not to take justice into their own hands and allow authorities time to uncover and arrest the killer.
To prevent revenge attacks from spiralling into a blood feud between two families or tribes or vigilante justice, Jordanian authorities along with tribal notables often help broker such “truces,” or facilitate mass relocation of families of a convicted murderer away from the victim’s family.
Calls for information online turned to demands for justice after Nibal’s body was discovered. Jordanians referred to her as “a martyr,” and “the daughter of Jordan”, describing the “heinous killing” as the “pain of the nation.”
“I wish her criminal murderer is executed in a public square before the people,” said Hassan, a Jordanian Twitter user. “May God bless her family and give them patience.”
Jordan issued a moratorium on capital punishment in 2006, and no executions were carried out until December 2014, when the death penalty was re-instated amid a rising public outcry over a perceived increase in highly-publicised murders. Since December 2014, 26 executions have been carried out.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May
More from Neighbourhood Watch
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
More coverage from the Future Forum
Asia Cup 2018 final
Who: India v Bangladesh
When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium
Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD
Scorebox
Dubai Hurricanes 31 Dubai Sports City Eagles 22
Hurricanes
Tries: Finck, Powell, Jordan, Roderick, Heathcote
Cons: Tredray 2, Powell
Eagles
Tries: O’Driscoll 2, Ives
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey
More coverage from the Future Forum
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
A4 35 TFSI
Engine: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder
Transmission: seven-speed S-tronic automatic
Power: 150bhp
Torque: 270Nm
Price: Dh150,000 (estimate)
On sale: First Q 2020
A4 S4 TDI
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel
Transmission: eight-speed PDK automatic
Power: 350bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh165,000 (estimate)
On sale: First Q 2020
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Match info:
Wolves 1
Boly (57')
Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')
Zayed Sustainability Prize
