Husband decapitates his wife and parades her head then is forgiven by her parents

A man who decapitated his wife and paraded her severed head through the streets has been sentenced to a mere eight years in prison in Iran.

He escaped a more severe punishment after her parents reportedly decided not to invoke 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 documents.

Her husband Sajjad Heydari, along with his brother Heydar, committed the horrific murder in Ahvaz, the capital of the south-western Khuzestan Province.

A judiciary spokesperson disclosed the lenient sentence was given because Mona’s parents had “pardoned” him for the murder instead of demanding retribution, reports the Express.

Mona, who was married off at the tender age of 12, initially ran away from her abusive husband and fled to Turkey with another man, the court was told.

Heydari had reportedly dismissed Mona’s pleas for a divorce.

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

According to the BBC, her father allegedly used Interpol to track down his daughter and returned her to her violent husband, where her spouse – who is also her cousin – killed her, claiming she had brought him dishonour.

Disturbing video footage, which The Express has opted not to publish, surfaced showing the killer husband holding his wife’s severed head in one hand and a large knife in the other following her murder. Court spokesman Massud Setayeshi confirmed that Heydari was sentenced to seven and a half years for murder, plus an additional eight months for deliberate assault.

His brother, who helped dispose of his sister-in-law’s decapitated remains, was given a 45-month jail term for complicity in intentional homicide.

The court was told how the victim’s father justified marrying her off at 12 to a relative, claiming that the violence she endured in the marriage was normal. Mona was just 14 when she gave birth to their son.

Her father praised the husband they selected for her as a good spouse, highlighting his hard work 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 that, in hindsight, she may have been too young to wed, but maintained: “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 felt humiliated and insulted after his wife absconded to Turkey with another man.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported that the victim was coerced into marrying her cousin at the tender age of 12.

They also revealed the young girl allegedly endured domestic abuse 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 merely 14.

Local press reported the husband’s brother wrapped the girl’s body in a blanket and disposed of it, while the husband flaunted his wife’s head.

In the video, the suspect is seen grinning broadly as he holds the teenager’s head, strolling past local residents.

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 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 [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.”