Jordanian Gets Life Term for Killing 7 Israeli Schoolgirls

A military court convicted a Jordanian soldier Saturday of killing seven Israeli schoolgirls who were visiting his country on a class outing. It sentenced him to life in prison.

Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh was found guilty of the murder of the girls, who were shot to death March 13 at the “Island of Peace” border post. The popular tourist spot overlooks the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers southeast of the Sea of Galilee.

Daqamseh faced the death penalty. But the court handed down a life prison sentence because he was mentally unstable, said Brig. Maamoun Khassawneh, who presided over the five-man tribunal.

“The court found that the act was instant, and there was no premeditation,” he said. He added that the tribunal believed that Daqamseh suffered from an “antisocial personality disorder.”

The court also convicted Daqamseh of plotting to kill Israelis since 1993, threatening to shoot his fellow soldiers the day of the attack and disobeying army orders. As part of the sentence, he was demoted to private and dismissed from the army, Khassawneh said.

Under Jordanian law, a life sentence is equivalent to 25 years in prison. The verdict cannot be appealed, but King Hussein can use his constitutional power to reduce the sentence or cancel it.

During the seven-week trial, lawyers from Daqamseh’s 92-member defense team told the tribunal that he suffered from a personality disorder and that he killed the girls in a fit of rage.

Daqamseh stood silently in the dock as Khassawneh pronounced the verdict.

In attendance were Israeli and Western diplomats, human rights activists and former government officials. Daqamseh’s relatives also attended the 90-minute hearing at the heavily guarded building at the army base in Naur, 20 miles west of Amman.

Outside the courtroom, Daqamseh’s wife, Fatima Hawatmeh, wept with other family members.

In Israel, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the trial was an internal Jordanian matter.

“But we do have complete trust in the integrity and the sense of justice of King Hussein and the Jordanian courts,” David Bar-Illan said.

King Hussein had condemned the killing as a “heinous crime.”