By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - A 24-year-old farmer was charged on Thursday with the premeditated murder of his unmarried sister in the Jordan Valley, according to an official source.

The source told The Jordan Times that the victim was reportedly stabbed 10 times by her brother, who turned himself in to the authorities, claiming he committed the murder in the name of family honour.

"He was told that his sister was having an affair with a man in a Ghor Safi village and killed her based on suspicions, claiming that his sister tarnished his family's honour," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Momen Hadidi, told The Jordan Times on Thursday evening that an autopsy was under way on the body.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported that "tests proved that the 27-year-old victim was four weeks pregnant".

A police spokesman told AFP that the defendant stabbed his sister in front of a group of people, who “did not prevent the crime, but later tried to rescue the woman” and failed.

Meanwhile, Hadidi said another woman was murdered in a separate incident in Amman yesterday, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of the crime.

Last year, 18 persons were reportedly murdered in Jordan in so-called honour crimes, according to official figures.

Globally, the UN estimates that around 5,000 women are killed every year for reasons related to family honour.