Khawri, who was sentenced to two years for his role by the same court, claimed the father had refused the marriage suit because of his Sunni faith.“The girl loved me and took refuge with me after her father used to beat her severely every day, affected by his excessive drug addiction, and she asked me to save her from daily torture by marrying her,” he said, when questioned over their age difference.The pair were tracked down by police some 320km northwest a few days later, whom she begged not to return her, telling police she feared for her life.However, her father, as her legal guardian, had filed a complaint requiring the police to act, and Ashrafi was returned home. On May 21 Ashrafi was beheaded by her father with a scythe, as he felt she had shamed the family by running away. It later emerged that he had repeatedly asked his wife to persuade Romina to kill herself for having brought shame on the family.The sentence has sparked outrage on social media by Iranians who have claimed that, in rural communities, such killings are frequent and implicitly endorsed by the Iranian state. In some provinces, as many as one in five murders are classified as honor killings, The Guardian reported.The nine-year sentence has also been unfavorably compared to lengthy terms handed to women who protest the requirement to wear a hijab.Shame on Islamic Republic state media for covering Romina’s hair by photoshop. She was 13 and murdered by her father. Now they depicting the victim of an honor killing in “appreciate hijab” for her honor. They killed her again.This is gender apartheid not cultural difference. pic.twitter.com/qMh6COeGCy
— Masih Alinejad ️ (@AlinejadMasih) May 27, 2020
Sentence for father who murdered daughter provokes outrage in Iran
14-year-old Romina Ashrafi was beheaded by her father in May, after she attempted to elope with an older man.
