AMMAN, Jordan —  Jordan's criminal court has convicted and sentenced a 23-year-old student to 10 years in jail for shooting and stabbing his sister to death to cleanse the family's honor.

The court says the defendant told interrogators that he stabbed his sister 14 times and shot her repeatedly in October 2006 after her ex-husband complained that she had affairs.

The court initially sentenced the defendant to death, but commuted the sentence to 10 years in jail to give him the chance to repent.

The harsh sentence Tuesday underlines Jordan's determination to curb so-called honor killings in this tribal-dominated society. Killers had previously received sentences as short as six months.

An average of 20 Jordanian women are killed by male relatives every year in honor killings.