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Two parents allegedly tried to choke their 17-year-old daughter outside her high school in an attempted “honor killing” for refusing an arraigned marriage with an older man, according to police.
Ihsan Ali and his wife, Zahraa Ali, were charged with attempted murder for the shocking attack outside Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington, in which the dad also allegedly punched their daughter’s boyfriend in the face, police said.
Their daughter, who was not identified, said that “her father had recently been threatening her with honor killing for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another county,” according to charging documents obtained by The Post.
She ran away and sought help from school staff on Oct. 18 — enraging her parents who showed up and attacked her outside, some of which was caught on camera.
Her dad, Ihsan, choked her “to the point where she had lost consciousness” as other students — including the girl’s boyfriend — desperately tried to pry her away, the documents alleged.
“It’s not right … you are not supposed to do this,” her father told her with his hands around her throat before she blacked out, the girl told police.
Video obtained by Fox 13 Seattle shows Ihsan on top of his daughter and shoving her face in the dirt surrounded by a group of students yelling at him to stop. The dad also punched the girl’s boyfriend in the face, according to cops.
The girl’s mother, Zahraa Ali, also grabbed her daughter and tried to choke her, the documents stated.
Witness Josh Wagner told KOMO he was driving by with his family when he stopped to break up what he thought was a fight between a group of kids at the bus stop — until he saw the dad holding his daughter in a headlock.
“It was pretty angering, said Wagner. “All the kids were screaming, yelling.” said Wagner, who held down the dad until cops came.
Wagner said he was able to yank the dad’s arms off her, and pin him down until cops arrived.
The girl escaped with her boyfriend, running to the school’s main office screaming, “My dad was trying to kill me” – prompting a school lockdown as school staff blocked the girl’s parents from getting inside, according to court documents.
The boyfriend’s father, Victor Barnes, told KOMO there have been issues with the Ali family for months — including an alleged physical altercation that forced them to get a temporary protection order.
Court records show the mom was also banned from school property.
An honor killing is a practice in some societies when family members justify killing a person, usually a woman, by claiming the victim has brought dishonor to the family, according to Britannica. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that up to 5,000 women are killed each year for reasons of honor.
The victim’s school found the girl a safe place to stay as authorities continue to investigate.
English (US)