Murder of Student Due to Low Grades Sparks Outrage on Social Media in Jordan

Under the title "Murder of Student Due to Low Grades Sparks Outrage on Social Media in Jordan," Sky News Arabia reported that the hashtag "Rania Al-Abadi" trended on social media in Jordan on Wednesday, as many expressed their anger after the student was killed by her father due to her poor exam results. Jordanian media indicated that Rania, a student at Al-Salt College of Humanities affiliated with Al-Balqa Applied University, was killed by her father because of her low grades in one of the exams. Reports related to the incident mentioned that the victim died from severe beating by her father, while her mother and aunt reportedly covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming, punishing her for her low performance in university. According to Jordan's "Roya" news site, the Public Prosecutor charged the perpetrator with murder combined with brutal torture of the victim, deciding to detain him for 15 days, renewable, at a rehabilitation center. The site quoted a source close to the investigation stating that the victim was a first-year university student studying on a scholarship, and on the day of the crime, her father learned that his daughter had received a low average and that she might lose that scholarship. Social media users showed sympathy for the victim, calling for the harshest penalties for the father, who committed a crime for what they deemed an illogical reason. Twitter users in Jordan called for harsher penalties for perpetrators of crimes against women and urged that personal rights of the victim not be waived in crimes occurring within families.