Family of suspect in doctor’s murder disowns him

AMMAN — The family of a 27-year-old man who allegedly murdered an Al Bashir Hospital paediatric surgeon near his residence in Shafa Badran on Sunday announced that they were disowning him.

Mohammad Abu Risheh, 43, was allegedly stabbed to death by the suspect, who held a grudge over an old dispute regarding the victim’s treatment of one of his daughters.

The announcement was published in an advertisement in Al Rai daily on Thursday in the name of the suspect’s family and signed by his father.

“We strongly condemn this criminal act and declare that we disown our son because this is not part of our values and customs,” the ad said.

“We strongly call on all security and judicial parties to apply the harshest punishment against the perpetrator” to deter others, the family said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Afif Khawaldeh has charged the suspect with premeditated murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty as stipulated in the Penal Code of 1960. 

Initial investigation indicated that the victim treated the suspect’s one-year-old daughter at Al Bashir Hospital some four months ago.The suspect, a father of five daughters, was not satisfied with the treatment and had a scuffle with the victim at the hospital, and was briefly detained at the time, according to official sources.

Since then, “the suspect vowed to take revenge for what he believed was unsatisfactory medical attention, although his daughter was fine after that,” they said.