Woman forced to marry husband at 12 decapitated at 17 as he walked around with her head

A man who beheaded his wife and paraded her head down the street was handed a mere eight-year prison sentence in Iran. He avoided a harsher punishment after her parents reportedly declined to invoke Iran's Islamic law of retribution.

Mona Heydari, a mother of one, was just 17 when she was dragged from a car outside her family homeand killed in February 2022, according to court proceedings. Her husband Sajjad Heydari, and his brother Heydar, committed the horrific attack in Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern Khuzestan Province.

A judiciary spokesperson stated the leniency of the sentence was due to Mona's parents having "pardoned" him for the murder rather than seeking retribution.

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Mona, who was married off at the tender age of 12, initially escaped her abusive husband and fled to Turkey with another man, the court heard. Heydari had reportedly denied Mona's pleas for a divorce.

Her father, identified as Javid in local reports, eventually located her and persuaded her to return to Iran, reports the Express.

According to the BBC, her father allegedly used Interpol to locate his daughter and brought her back to her violent husband, where her spouse - who is also her cousin - murdered her, claiming she had dishonoured him.

Disturbing video evidence, which The Express has chosen not to show, emerged depicting the murderous husband holding his wife's severed head in one hand and a large knife in the other after killing her.

Court spokesperson Massud Setayeshi announced that Heydari was handed a seven and a half year sentence for murder, with an additional eight months for intentional assault. His brother, who disposed of his sister-in-law's decapitated body, received a 45-month prison sentence for complicity in intentional homicide.

The court heard how the victim's father defended marrying her off at 12 to a relative, arguing that the violence she endured in the relationship was normal. Mona was only 14 when she gave birth to their son.

Her father lauded the husband they chose for her as a good partner, praising 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."

In retrospect, Mona's father admitted 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 claimed the husband felt humiliated and insulted after his wife fled to Turkey with another man.

The Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported the victim was forced to marry her cousin at the age of 12.

They also disclosed the young girl supposedly suffered domestic abuse and whenever she expressed a wish to divorce her husband, her family urged 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 dumped it, whilst the husband displayed his wife's head.

In the video, the suspect is seen smiling widely as he clutches the teenager's head, walking past local residents.

Meanwhile, the state-run news site Rokna was reportedly closed 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."