A 17-year-old mother of one, Mona Heydari, was brutally murdered after being dragged from a car outside her home and killed by her husband and brother-in-law on the streets of Ahvaz in western Iran. After the horrific attack, which took place in February 2022, the man was handed just a mere eight-year prison sentence after the girl’s parents chose to forgive him, giving him a narrow escape from the country’s Islamic law of retribution.
Sajjad Heydari and his brother Heydar’s short sentence was put down to his in-laws “pardoning” him for the murder, according to a judiciary spokesperson. Mona was just 12 years old when she was forced to marry Heydari and had initially escaped her abusive husband by fleeing to Turkey with another man.
Despite the sanctuary in Turkey, it is believed Mona’s father managed to track her down and convince her to travel back to Iran, despite her and Heydari still being married, as he had turned down her plea for a divorce and was alleged to have been offended by her choice to flee with another man.
In a video that has shocked the world, Heydari can be seen brandishing a large knife in one hand and his decapitated wife’s head in the other, seemingly celebrating his murderous rampage.
Court spokesperson Massud Setayeshi revealed the murderer was just a seven-and-a-half-year sentence, with an extra eight months in prison for intentional assault.
His brother, who had aided Heydari in the attack and disposed of Mona’s body, was handed just 45 months in jail for being complicit in an intentional homicide.
In the trial, Mona’s father, Javid, seemingly justified marrying off his daughter to the brutal murderer, arguing that the violence she had initially escaped from was normal, despite her being only 14 when she gave birth to their son.
Javid had been happy with his selection of his son-in-law, arguing that he had a strong work ethic and created 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.”
Although Javid did add that, looking back, Mona may have been too young for her marriage. Speaking to the court, he added: “We got a certificate of confirmation that she was physically old enough to marry, and there was no physical problem in the relationship.”
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported the case: “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’.”
Iranian state-run news, Rokna, initially ran the story but was reportedly shut down after it was published.