Judicial official claims "special investigation" into the murder of 13-year-old Romina by her father

A judicial official in Gilan province has said that the murder of a 14-year-old girl in the city of Talesh will be investigated "specially."

According to Mizan News Agency, Ahmad Aghaei, the Deputy Justice Minister of Gilan, explaining the details of this incident, said that Romina Ashrafi "escaped" on May 19 with a 29-year-old young man.

Local media reported that Romina was in love with this person and had run away from home to marry the man she loved.

The girl's family initially filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office under the title of "kidnapping." This complaint led to the prosecution of the two people and their arrest.

Previously, local media in Gilan reported that despite Romina's repeated warnings that her life would be in danger if she returned home due to her father's "character," she would be handed over to her father, Karbala'i Reza Ashrafi, in accordance with the law.

The Deputy Chief Justice of Gilan said in this regard, "Darkhtar's father gained the trust of the investigator with his kindness and gentleness," and "considering all the circumstances, there was no reason not to return the girl to her family at that time."

Mr. Aghaei said about the murder: "It is not clear what unusual thing happened," that "at dusk and while the girl was sleeping, the father killed his daughter."

According to local media reports, upon Romina's return home and increasing family disputes and tensions, the father, unable to cope with his daughter's escape from home, took advantage of the privacy of the house on June 1st to brutally behead the 13-year-old girl with a sickle while she was sleeping.

According to reports, after committing the murder, he left the house with a sickle in his hand and, after going to the police, confessed to killing his daughter.

According to the Deputy Justice Minister of Gilan, the girl's father is currently in custody and "regardless of the father's motive for murdering his daughter," the case will be investigated separately.

Deputy Rouhani's request for approval of child protection bills

In response to this incident, Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, has called for the swift passage of the "Children and Adolescents Protection Bill."

Shahindokht Molaverdi, former vice president for women and family affairs, also described the murder as a "crime against humanity" and wrote that Romina Ashrafi will not be the last victim of this type of murder.

Like Masoumeh Ebtekar, she has also pointed out the need to pass bills to ensure women's safety against violence and to protect children and adolescents.

The tweets of these two current and former women's rights officials have been met with widespread negative reactions on social media.

Journalist and women's activist Asiyeh Amini tweeted: "These bills cannot "rival the constitution, which links civil law to Sharia law, which considers the father and paternal grandfather to be the owners of the child."

Romina's murder widely covered in cyberspace

In another reaction from government institutions, Reza Jafari, Deputy Director of Social Affairs and Welfare of Gilan, called the murder "an example of a clear violation of children's rights" and said: The government "will use all its efforts to achieve the legitimate rights of the child."

Although Romina's father has been arrested, according to Article 220 of the Islamic Penal Code, the father, as the "guardian of the deceased", is not subject to retribution for the murder of his child, and if convicted in court, he will be sentenced to a punishment such as imprisonment or blood money.

The brutal murder of this teenage lover has severely affected the Persian-speaking cyberspace.

His obituary, which also includes his father's name, has been shared many times on social media, and users have strongly criticized the fact that his father's name was included in the obituary, even though he was a murderer.

Every year in Iran, women and girls are murdered by men in their own families in the name of "defense of honor."

There are no exact statistics on these types of murders in Iran, but Hadi Mostafaei, then deputy head of the Tehran Intelligence Police's Crime Prevention Division, reported in 2014 that 20 percent of murders in Iran were committed under the pretext of defending honor.

The Khabar Online website also wrote: "According to statistics in 2013, 18.8 percent of murders were motivated by honor and dishonor, and Khuzestan Province, Fars Province, and East Azerbaijan Province are among the provinces that had the highest number of these murders."

Cases of these murders have also been observed in the provinces of Ilam, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Lorestan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Hamedan, and West Azerbaijan.

Source: Radio Farda