A 15-year-old girl in a public park with a man was shot and killed by her father in Iran in a suspected “honor killing.”
Ariana Lashkari, 15, was murdered by her father Mohammad Kazem Lashkari, 43, who admitted he had killed her on June 27 in Nurabad but claimed it was an accident.
“After an argument, Ariana went to my mother’s house and I could not control my anger,” Mohammad Lashkari told police. “I went there with my shotgun to scare her. I really did not mean to kill my daughter. I fired involuntarily.”
But one of the young girl’s relatives told human rights activist Masih Alinejad, “Ariana was a quiet girl who went to school every day and returned, a joyous girl full of hopes. This girl was very kind and caring.”
“All of her friends and classmates adored her. Ariana was a girl that didn’t enjoy being oppressed by her father and others,” the relative continued. “She wanted to choose her own lifestyle and have a free mind. But accepting her views was hard for her father. And others who constantly said ‘Your daughter is acting up’ helped this tragedy and led to this father murdering his beloved child.”
“I’m still in shock from this tragedy,” he lamented. “Not only me but the entire city is in shock. It’s unbelievable to see that Ariana is now gone.”
“The regime, as always, is trying hard for this tragedy not to get published or shared in the media,” the relative charged. “I hope this innocent girl’s blood is not going to be trampled on like many other girls who have been murdered in this way.”
Aryana’s father believed his daughter’s lifestyle was against family’s honor so on Monday he shot his 15 yr old daughter in heart in the city of Noorabad in Iran.
Listen to a relative: Aryana Lashkari was a cheerful schoolgirl. Her classmates loved her. pic.twitter.com/Kr5g9voNEQ— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) June 30, 2022
“In Iran the punishment for murder is usually death,” The Daily Mail pointed out. “However, the murder of a child or grandchild by their father or paternal grandfather is an exception and carries a maximum sentence of ten years. In Iran 15 to 18 per cent of murders are so-called honor killings. Up to 62 per cent of murders of women are committed by a family member.”
In February of this year, video was published showing a grinning Iranian man walking through the streets of Ahvaz in southwest Iran while carrying the severed head of his 17-year-old wife, whom he had reportedly murdered with his brother in an “honor killing.”
Sajjad Heydari carried the head of his wife Mona Heydari in one hand and a blade in the other, East2West News reported, according to The New York Post.
“Mona, who also was Sajjad’s cousin, had been forced to marry him when she was just 12 years old, according to the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran,” The Post noted.
The couple had a three-year-old son. That fact was reportedly used to pressure Mona to stay despite domestic abuse and a wish for divorce, but she escaped to Turkey. “Her father helped the husband, who is his nephew, to bring the woman back to the country,” Iran International reported.
Only days after her return, “Sajjad and his brother allegedly tied her hands and chopped off her head. Her body was dumped before her husband paraded through the streets with her head,” the Post reported. The two men have reportedly been arrested.
After the Rokna news agency published the video of Sajjad Heydari walking through the streets with his wife’s head, Iran’s media watchdog reportedly shut the news agency down.