Iranian man sentenced to eight years in prison for beheading his teen wife
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Sulaiman
- . January 19, 2023
- . Update: January 19, 2023 3:51 pm
An Iranian man has been sentenced to eight years in jail after he beheaded his 17 years old teen wife and displayed her head in public, according to the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mona Heidari was killed in February 2022 by her husband and brother-in-law in Ahvaz in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. Later on, her husband showed her decapitated head on the street. His videos went viral on social media, sparking outrage and grief.
The man, identified as Sajjad Heidarnava, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for murdering his wife and eight months for assaulting her. Iranian judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi also confirmed the news.
Sajjad Heidarnava’s brother, Heidar Heidarnava, was sentenced to 45 months in prison over intentional homicide. Setayeshi said that the accused could not protest against the final verdict.
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Mona Heidari married Sajjad Heidarnava at the age of 12. She was the mother of a three-year-old son when her husband killed her. She reportedly suffered due to domestic violence. Her husband also refused her requests for a divorce.
The spokesperson has said that the final verdict is in line with Iranian law, under which intentional murder is punishable by death unless the family of the victim forgives the murderer. He said that Mona Heidari’s family pardoned the murderer rather than demanding qesas under Iranian law.
After the gruesome killing of Mona Heidari, human rights activists called for changes to the Iranian law to protect women against domestic violence and raise the minimum age of marriage for girls.
In Iran, the minimum age to get married is 13. However, girls below 13 years of age can legally marry in Iran with judicial and parental consent.
Currently, Iran is being rocked by anti-government protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the country’s morality police in September for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.
