An Iranian man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison after beheading his wife and displaying her head in public in 2022, causing shock waves in the country, the Judicial Authority announced on Wednesday (January 18th).
Suspected of adultery, Mona Heidari, 17, was murdered in February 2022 by her husband and brother-in-law in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan province in the south-west of the country.
The video of the husband parading down the street smiling with his victim's head sparked shock and outrage in Iran.
The accused has no right to challenge the verdict
On Wednesday, the judiciary's spokesman, Massoud Setayechi, announced to the press that the parents of the victim "
had pardoned the killer Sajjad Heidarnava
".
"
In terms of the general aspect of the crime, the man was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for being responsible for the deliberate murder of a Muslim woman and eight months for assault
," the official said. responsible.
"
The accused has no right to challenge the verdict and the decision is final
," added Massoud Setayechi.
"
The second defendant in the case, Heidar Heidarnava, was sentenced to 45 months in prison for complicity in intentional homicide
," the spokesman said.
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At the time, local media reported that the victim was just 12 when she married and was the mother of a 3-year-old son when she died.
After the tragedy, several human rights defenders urged the authorities to reform the law on the protection of women against domestic violence and to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls, currently set at 13 years.
Iran has been rocked by protests that erupted after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's women's dress code.
