An Iranian teenager who was beheaded by her husband after she fled to Turkey was reportedly tracked down with the help of the authorities .
Mona Heydari, 17, was dragged from a car outside the family home in Iran and butchered by Sajjad Heydari, who was also her cousin.
She was killed after being found in Turkey by her father, identified only as Javad.
He filed a complaint with police in Iran who then gave him her address, according to reports in the Iranian media.
The father is said to have then travelled to the country with a translator and all the paperwork necessary to bring her back home, where she was then murdered to ‘avenge the family’s honour’.
The victim was just 12 when she was married to Sajjad and had a three-year-old son with him.
Authorities have arrested the husband and his brother on charges of killing Mona in revenge for adultery and leaving him.
Gruesome footage showed the husband grinning as he held a knife in one hand and carrying what was said to be his wife’s decapitated head in the another.
An Iranian teenager who was beheaded by her husband after she fled to Turkey was tracked down. Mona Heydari, was just 17 when she was dragged from a car outside the family home in Iran and butchered by Sajjad Heydari, who was also her cousin
Gruesome footage showed the husband grinning as he held a knife in one hand and carrying what was said to be his wife’s decapitated head in the another. The husband, Sajjad Heydari, was also her cousin
The incident has shocked many people in Iran where the legal age for marriage are 13 and women are compelled to wear a head covering in accordance with Islam.
Speaking after his daughter’s death, Javad defended the decision to force his daughter to marry at such a young age and added that the domestic violence she had allegedly fled from was normal.
He also claimed that the husband had worked hard to provide for his young wife.
The father described Sajjad as a good husband, saying that he worked hard and provided her with the ‘best life’.
Her father added: ‘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.
She was killed after being found in Turkey by her father, identified only as Javad. He filed a complaint with police in Iran who then gave him her address. Above: Mona Heydari, with her father Javad (right) and her uncle Amin (left) in Turkey
‘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.’
He admitted that she had probably been too young to marry, but added: ‘We got a certificate of confirmation that she was physically old enough to marry, and there was not any physical problems in the relationship.’
However, the family claimed that the husband was mocked and insulted by the fact that his wife had fled to Turkey with another man.
Images of her grinning husband allegedly holding the decapitated head of his teenage wife in one hand and a large blade in the other shocked the world after he allegedly took part in the ‘honour killing’ with his brother.
The macabre scene was filmed in the neighbourhood of Khashayar in the city of Ahvaz in the south-western Iranian province of Khuzestan on February 5.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said that every time Mona expressed a desire to divorce him, her family pressured her to return home for the sake of their child.
Local media said the brother of Mona’s husband wrapped her body in a blanket and dumped it as Sajjad walked along the street with his wife’s head in one hand and a large blade in the other.
In the video, the suspect is seen grinning as he holds the teenager’s head as he walks past locals.
The chief of the State Security Force (SSF) said the motive for the killing was ‘family differences’.
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 suspect, Sajjad Heydari, pictured with the victim, Mona Heydari, and their child
The NCRI’s Women’s Committee said: ‘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 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.’
The suspect and his brother were reportedly arrested after the alleged killing. However, it is unclear what punishment they are likely to face.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk