HONOR KILLINGS DUE TO FORBIDDEN LOVE

By: Dr. Shahriar Jahanian

name of honor on 21st May, 2020, by her father Reza Ashrafi in the name of honor. Reportedly, Romina fell in love with Bahman Khavari (who was a 35-year-old man) and when she told her father about it, he strictly condemned it as they belonged to different sects. Romina was a Shia Muslim, while Bahman was a Sunni Muslim. Her father, Reza Ashrafi, refused to allow her to get married to her lover because of their religious differences. After knowing that her father will never agree to their marriage, Romina ran away with Bahman.

After five days of hunting, she was found by the officials and despite saying that she fears for her life at her home, she was handed to her father by the authorities — only to be killed by a sickle in her sleep. She was mercilessly beheaded by her very own father. Reportedly, after beheading Romina, her father screamed with joy and said “I washed the stigma off my family.” Allegedly, Reza handed himself in to the police after killing his daughter. At the time of arrest, he was holding the murder weapon in his hand which still had his dead daughter’s blood on it.

Romina was a victim of forbidden love. According to sources, her own father killed her because he was forced by his brothers to do so. He also made sure that he would be safe and sound, as he had consulted a lawyer before beheading his daughter, according to Iranian media reports. He was well aware that there is no retribution in the Islamic Penal Code for honor killing of her, especially when the act was conducted by the victim’s father. Even though this was a pre-mediating murder, the judge showed leniency in sentencing Reza Ashrafi due to the law stated above, punishing him to nine years of imprisonment.

According to the Islamic penal code, if a man kills a woman of his own family, he has to serve 3–10 years of imprisonment. He cannot be executed as he is the guardian of his family. A young girl was killed just because she wanted to live her life on her terms. Romina is not the only one who became a victim of forbidden love and honor killing. About 20% of women in Iran are killed in the name of honor every year, and the number is still going up. Romina was punished because she fell in love and her only mistake was that Bahaman did not belong to her sect.

The patriarchy followed in Iran has caused the loss of lives of Iranian women. Most honor killing cases are never given attention to or are hushed by the authorities. A number of Iranian women have been protesting against these merciless killings and running a campaign against honor killings after the murder of Romina.

According to media sources, when the judge asked Mr. Reza Ashrafi whether he considered this an honor killing and why did her, and not kill Mr. Bahman Khavari his daughter’s lover, he referred to the following Article of law which says

“According to Article 301 of the Islamic Penal Code, “the father would not be retributed in the position of a compulsory guardian in the murder of his child.” He added, “had I killed Bahman I would be retributed”. It has been speculated that this sentence was given to Mr. Ashrafi after the judge faced tremendous pressure from public.