“We want to send a strong message to the people that killing women in the name of family honour will no longer be tolerated by our court,” said Judge Mohammad Tarawneh of the Court of Cassation following a landmark ruling on honour killings on March 21.

The ruling doubled the sentences for two brothers who had killed their sister with poison after she fell in love and fled her home, from 7.5 years imprisonment to 15 for one and from 10 years to 20 for the other.

The ruling followed a fatwa in December, from the Iftaa Department, which issues religious edicts, declaring for the first time that “honour” killings are contrary to Sharia.

In the fatwa, it was said that such killings are one of society’s most heinous crimes.

Every year in Jordan, 15 to 20 women and girls are burned, beaten or stabbed to death by family members because they are seen as having transgressed social codes of “honour”.

An increase in such killings in 2016 may have prompted the authorities to finally take action.

“Honour” killings have often been treated more leniently than other types of murders.

Article 340 of the Penal Code allows a reduction in the penalty when a man kills or attacks his wife or any of his female relatives for alleged adultery or for acts in an “unlawful bed”. Many cases do not meet such criteria.

But, the penalty can still be reduced under Article 98 of the Penal Code where the perpetrator commits the crime in a “state of great fury [fit of fury] resulting from an unlawful and dangerous act on the part of the victim”.

Under Article 97, when a court applies the “fit of fury” defence for premeditated murder, the penalty can be as little as one year.

Courts also often reduce sentences because victims’ families request leniency. This is usually the case as members of the victim’s family are often complicit in “honour killings”.

Under Article 99, the killer’s sentence can be cut in half in these cases.

Judge Tarawneh said that the ruling “will set a precedent and will become the rule in line of which other verdicts in similar circumstances will be handled in the future”,

However, while sentences of five years or more automatically go to a higher court for review, cases with sentences of less than five years will reach the higher court only if the prosecution files an appeal.

In a hugely important move for fighting impunity for “honour” killings, these loopholes may disappear if Parliament adopts proposed revisions to the Penal Code.

On March 15, the Cabinet adopted reforms by the Royal Committee for Developing the Judiciary and Enhancing the Rule of Law to, among other actions, repeal Article 340 of the Penal Code and prohibit the “fit of fury” defence under Article 98 in relation to crimes committed against females to preserve “honour”.

Parliament should go further and prohibit reduced penalties in cases related to “honour” killings, regardless of whether the victim’s family calls for leniency.

But Penal Code reforms are only one way to tackle gender-based violence.

Authorities should also adopt a comprehensive national strategy to prevent such violence, protect those at risk, and prosecute anyone involved in “honour” violence.