Jordan sentences 6 to death for assaulting teenager

A Jordanian Court on Wednesday sentenced six men to death for assaulting a teenager last year in a torture attack that sent shock waves across the kingdom.

In October, a 16-year-old was kidnapped from his neighbourhood in the working-class city of Zarqa, east of the capital Amman.

He was taken to a remote area and tortured by a mob, who amputated both his hands and gouged out one of his eyes.

Videos circulated of the boy as he was left bleeding on a street until people found him and called an ambulance.

The attack was reportedly to take revenge on the boy’s father, who was at the time jailed on charges of manslaughter.

Seventeen people were referred to the State Security Court on a total of nine charges that included attempted murder, terrorism, kidnapping, causing permanent disability and possession of unlicensed arms.

Out of the six defendants sentenced to death by hanging, one has been sentenced in absentia, according to the official Petra news agency.

Seven were acquitted and the remaining four received prison sentences between one and 15 years.