A man who decapitated his wife and paraded her head down the street was sentenced to a mere eight years in prison in Iran. He was spared a tougher sentence after her parents reportedly declined to enact Iran’s Islamic law of retribution.
Mona Heydari, a mother of one, was only 17 when she was pulled from a car outside her family home and murdered in February 2022, according to court proceedings. Her husband Sajjad Heydari, and his brother Heydar, carried out the horrific attack in Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern Khuzestan Province.
A judiciary spokesman said the leniency of the sentence was due to Mona’s parents having “pardoned” him for the murder rather than seeking retribution.
Mona, who had been married when she was just 12, initially escaped her abusive husband and fled to Turkey with another man, the court was told. Heydari had reportedly refused Mona’s requests for a divorce. Her father, identified as Javid in local reports, eventually tracked her down and persuaded her to return to Iran.
According to the BBC, her father allegedly utilised Interpol to find his daughter and brought her back to her violent spouse, where her husband – who is also her cousin – killed her, alleging she had dishonoured him.
Disturbing video evidence, which The Express has opted not to display, surfaced showing the murderous husband holding his wife’s head in one hand and a large knife in the other after killing her.
Court spokesperson Massud Setayeshi announced Heydari was given a seven and a half year sentence for murder. He received an additional eight months for intentional assault. Heydari’s brother, who had discarded his sister-in-law’s decapitated body, was sentenced to 45 months in prison for complicity in intentional homicide.
The court was told the victim’s father justified marrying her off at 12 to a relative, stating the violence she escaped from in the relationship was normal. Mona was just 14 when she gave birth to the couple’s son.
The father praised the husband they selected for her as a good spouse, highlighting his work ethic and provision of the ‘best life’ for his daughter.
Javid told the court: “She was not forced to marry, and in fact, the husband provided her with the very best of lives.
“It’s true, there was fighting between them, and sometimes there was violence, and she would return home, but she only stayed for two or three days, and then he would pick her up, and life would return to normal.
“These fights between husband and wife are completely normal, and I don’t think there was a problem as she did not ask for a divorce.”
Mona’s father conceded, with hindsight, she may have been too young for marriage, but insisted: “We got a certificate of confirmation that she was physically old enough to marry, and there was no physical problem in the relationship.”
The family alleged the husband was ridiculed and offended by his wife fleeing to Turkey with another man.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported the victim was compelled to wed her cousin at the age of 12.
They also revealed the young girl allegedly endured domestic violence and whenever she voiced a desire to divorce her husband, her family pressured her to return home for the sake of their child, who was born when she was just 14.
Local media reported the husband’s brother wrapped the girl’s body in a blanket and discarded it, while the husband paraded his wife’s head.
In the video, the suspect is seen grinning broadly as he holds the teenager’s head, passing by local people.
Meanwhile, the state-run news site Rokna was reportedly shut down for publishing the story and the footage at the time of the incident.
The NCRI’s Women’s Committee stated: “Not a week goes by without some form of honour killing making headlines. The clerical regime’s failure to criminalise these murders has led to a catastrophic rise in honour killings.
“In a report published in 2019, the state-run Sharq daily newspaper wrote that an annual average of 375 to 450 honour killings are recorded in Iran. The murders are more prevalent [the areas of] in Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Ilam, and Sistan and Baluchestan.
“Some women’s rights activists believe that honour killings in Iran are officially justified as ‘family differences’.
“The catastrophic rise in honour killings in Iran is rooted in misogyny and the patriarchal culture institutionalised in the laws and society. Although the father, brother, or husband holds the knife, sickle, or rifle, the murders are rooted in the medieval outlook of the ruling regime.
“The clerical regime’s laws officially denote that women are second-degree citizens owned by men.”