CNN —
An Iranian man who beheaded his 17-year-old wife in February 2022 was sentenced to just eight years and two months in prison on Wednesday, according to the country’s semi-official website Khabar Online, prompting criticism of the leniency of the prison sentence.
After the teenager’s killing, a video circulated on the internet of her husband Sajjad Heydari smiling and walking through the provincial capital of Ahvaz, holding her severed head, IRNA reported.
Local authorities have confirmed that widespread images pretending to be Heydari are from the same incident, a source with knowledge of the statements told CNN. The video, seen by CNN, showed Heydari holding a knife in one hand and the girl’s head in the other.
The short sentence was condemned by critics, with some pointing to filmmaker Mozghan Ilanlo, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking off her headscarf.
When asked about the verdict, Iranian judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayesh said the husband was “convicted of intentional killing, intentional bodily harm and disturbing public order. A second defendant, the victim’s brother-in-law, “was convicted of being an accessory to first degree murder.”
The judiciary spokesman said a death penalty was not imposed because the victim’s family forgave the accused. They “announced their forgiveness and as this part of the indictment is limited in relation to the private aspect of this case, this has resulted in the issuance of the suspensive order, but the public aspect of the crime stands,” he said.
“Accordingly, the defendant in the front row was sentenced to seven and a half years in relation to the public aspect of the crime in relation to the administration of a premeditated murder and eight months in prison in relation to the public aspect of the crime,” added the justice spokesman added.
The spokesman also stated that “the second defendant (the victim’s brother-in-law) was also sentenced to 45 months in prison for aiding and abetting a first degree murder.”
When the story was first published, the official Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) described the alleged killing as a so-called “honor killing.”
The victim had fled to Turkey for four months before being persuaded by her father to return to Iran, according to an interview with the girl’s mother-in-law published on Fars back in 2022.
According to IRNA, at the time of her marriage to Heydari, the girl was 12 years old.
In an interview with the girl’s father, published in Fars in 2022, he is quoted as saying he received a legal certificate allowing his daughter to get married. The minimum age for marriage in Iran is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. CNN could not confirm her husband’s age.
The crime came years later after another high-profile “honor killing” in which a 14-year-old was allegedly killed with a sickle by her father after she fled her family’s home in northern Iran’s Talesh county with a 29-year-old. year old man.
Iranian women’s rights activists have been campaigning for stricter laws against domestic violence in the country for years.
This comes after the country was rocked by nationwide protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused of flouting the country’s mandatory hijab laws. Iran has cracked down by executing protesters accused of killing security forces, which critics say were the result of hasty sham trials.