Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
Jordan retains the death penalty for a range
of crimes, including murder, rape, terrorism,
aggravated robbery, drug traf cking, illegal
possessions and use of weapons, war crimes,
treason and espionage. Executions are
carried out by hanging, and must rst be
rati ed by the King, under Article 93 of the
Constitution.
In 2022, Jordan voted a second time in
favour of the UN’s moratorium on the use of
the death penalty, after having rst voted in
favour in 2020 (Amnesty International 2022).
There have been some political movements
to reduce the use of the death penalty in
Jordan. In 2005, after widespread criticism
from human rights groups regarding the
breadth of crimes deemed punishable by
death in Jordanian law (Hanafy 2018), King
Abdullah announced that:
‘in coordination with the European
Union, we would like to modify our
Penal Code. Jordan could soon
become the rst country in the Middle
East without capital
punishment’ (Husseini 2014).
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Although not included in the Amnesty
gures, Gulf News reported that a Jordanian
man was executed in August 2021 in Swaqa
prison for murder.
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Jordan
Between 2006 and 2014, Jordan adopted a
de facto moratorium on the death penalty.
However, whilst the state carried out no
executions during this time, no laws were
changed or removed and judges continued
to hand down death sentences.
Public opinion blamed the unof cial
moratorium for a rise in crime and in 2014
Jordan hanged 11 men convicted of murder,