Iranian husband beheads teenage wife, authorities say, shocking the country
The beheading of a 17-year-old girl, allegedly by her husband, in western Iran's Khuzestan province last week has once again raised concern over the country's laws around murder and gender-based violence.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) referred to the alleged murder as an "honor killing."
A
video began circulating showing the husband, Sajjad Heydari, walking in
the provincial capital of Ahvaz while smiling and carrying his wife's
severed head, IRNA reported. Local authorities have confirmed that
widely shared images that purport to be Heydari are from the same
incident, a source with knowledge of the statements told CNN.
The video, seen by CNN, showed Heydari holding a knife in one hand and the girl's head in another.
CNN
has not been able to reach Heydari or his family, and it is unclear
whether he has an attorney. In an interview published in Iran's
semiofficial Fars news agency, Sajjad's mother is quoted as saying her
son had threatened to kill his wife previously, and was responsible for
her killing.
The
girl, who has been identified as "Mona" by IRNA, and as "Ghazal" by
Fars -- who reportedly spoke with the husband's family -- had fled to
Turkey four months before being persuaded to return to Iran by her
father, according to an interview with the girl's mother-in-law,
published on Fars.
The girl was 12 years old at the time of her marriage to Heydari, according to IRNA.
In
an interview with the girl's father, published Tuesday in Fars, he is
quoted as saying that he had obtained a legal certificate allowing his
daughter to be married. The minimum age of marriage in Iran is 13 for
girls and 15 for boys. CNN has been unable to confirm Sajjad Heydari's
age.
She returned from Turkey on Friday, according to Fars, and was killed soon after.
Heydari
was arrested, along with his brother, who allegedly helped him commit
the crime, prosecutor Abbas Hosseini Pouya told Fars.
"The accused will definitely be dealt with severely," Pouya told Fars.
Those who published and shared the video may also face arrest, Pouya said.
The
incident has prompted Iran's government to push forward a review of a
draft law that aims to protect women against domestic violence, Ensieh
Khazali, the vice president for Women's and Family Affairs, a
cabinet-level position, said in a tweet, according to IRNA.
"The
judiciary is determined to inflict the most severe punishment on (the
killer and a suspected accomplice) in accordance with the law," Khazali
said.
For
years, Iranian women's rights activists have campaigned for such a
law to prevent "violence against women and prosecute their abusers,"
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in 2020.
The
draft law has "a number of positive provisions" HRW said, including the
creation of restraining orders and the formation of a committee to
"draft strategies and coordinate government responses to violence
against women."
The law would also require prejudicial mediation in domestic disputes that involve a father or a husband.
But
the law still "falls short of international standards," HRW said,
adding that it "does not criminalize some forms of gender-based
violence, such as marital rape and child marriage."
Hadi
Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human
Rights in Iran (ICHRI), said that "the beheaded child bride...might be
alive today if Iran's government had enacted laws against the cruel
practice of child marriage, and protections against domestic violence."
The
crime comes only two years after another high profile "honor killing,"
in which a 14-year-old was allegedly killed by her father with a
sickle after she ran away from her family home in northern Iran's Talesh
County with a 29-year-old man.
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