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Father Beheads 14-Year-Old Girl in "Honor Killing" (A. J. Cave, USA, 06/23/20 4:15 am)

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been gloating over US racial riots and has called the killing of George Floyd a "public execution."

Does that mean "a private execution" is acceptable, then?

As an Iranian-American woman, I'll be spectacularly remiss if I ignore the story of such "a private execution."

On 21 May, 4 days before the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, there was a horrific murder in Iran which was buried in the news. A 14-year old girl (Romina Ashrafi) was beheaded by her 35-year old father in a small village in Gilan province, on the southern shores of Caspian Sea.

She had been seeing a 29-year old man who wanted to marry her. That, in itself, is statutory rape of a minor in US, with or without sex. But in the Islamic Republic, the huge age difference doesn't matter. They use the old barbaric hat-check rule. The father (or guardian) tosses a hat against the back of a girl-child and if she doesn't fall down, she is ready to wed--more accurately, sold to a wealthy old man, who probably already has grandchildren older than her.

Romina's father declined the wedding proposal because the so-called boyfriend (his family) didn't have money or status to buy the ill-fated girl. The father tormented and tortured the poor girl for some time and even gave her ropes and rat poison to kill herself. She declined. Her mother apparently just watched, without trying to protect her daughter. Accessory to murder.

Three weeks before the gruesome murder, the cold-blooded would-be-murderer called a lawyer and asked him what would be the penalty for killing his daughter (premeditated murder). The lawyer had told him jail time of 3 to 10 years, since he is the guardian. Another accessory to murder. The horrific practice is called an honor killing--it preserves the "honor" of a Muslim family by washing it in the blood of women.

If a woman kills her own child, she is executed immediately, either hanged or stoned.

Either way, minors have no legal rights or protections in the Islamic Republic, especially young girls.

A week or so before the murder, the girl ran away with her boyfriend. The father called the police and claimed she had been kidnapped. The police found the couple and returned the girl--pleading with them for her life-- to her father. The following night, while she slept, the father beheaded her with a common farm sickle. And turned himself in to the police with the bloody weapon in hand.

Last week, another 23-year old Iranian man beheaded his 19-year old wife who had run away with another man. He had lured her back with the promises of forgiveness.

Islamic Republic doesn't release any data on murders. An estimated 30 to 40% are honor killings.

As my sister says, Americans treat their dogs better than those @#$% bastards treat their women and children.

This one falls into the "all lives matter."

JE comments:  How sickening.  I understand there is no sanction of "honor killing" in Islamic law, but the barbaric practice is popularly associated with Muslim societies.  I hope Muqtedar Khan, who's written extensively on contemporary Islam, will comment.

There are images of Romina all over the Internet.  As a way to remember her brief life, here's a photo that appeared on Al-Jazeera.

Romina Ashrafi

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