The dad of the Iranian teenager beheaded by her husband because she tried to escape him by fleeing to Turkey managed to track her down with the aid of Interpol.

The dad, identified only as Javad, filed a complaint with cops in Iran who then gave him her address, obtained via Interpol, who reportedly passed it on to the family.

The dad then travelled to the country with a translator and all the paperwork necessary to bring her back home, where she was then butchered by her husband, who is also her cousin, to ‘avenge the family’s honour’.

The dad also defended marrying her off at the age of 12 to a relative and added that violence in a relationship that she had fled from was normal, and that the main thing was that the husband had worked hard to provide for his young wife.

The dad described the husband that they chose for her as a good husband, saying that he worked hard and provided her with the “best life”.

The victim, Mona Heydari, was just 17 when she was dragged from a car outside the family home and butchered. She was the mother of a three-year-old son but that did not save her from her husband’s wrath.

Her dad Javad added: “She was not forced to marry, and in fact the husband provided her with the very best of lives. It’s true, there was fighting between them, and sometimes there was violence and she would return home, but she only stayed for two or three days and then he would pick her up and life would return to normal. These fights between husband and wife are completely normal and I don’t think there was a problem as she did not ask for a divorce.”

He admitted in hindsight that she was probably too young to marry, but added: “We got a certificate of confirmation that she was physically old enough to marry, and there was not any physical problems in the relationship.”

However, the family claimed that the husband was mocked and insulted by the fact that his wife had fled to Turkey with another man, and after persuading her father to travel to the country to bring her back, even bringing a translator to ensure that there were no problem local authorities, she was then murdered shortly after being returned to her mother.

Images of her grinning husband allegedly holding the decapitated head of his teenage wife in one hand and a large blade in the other shocked the world after he allegedly took part in the ‘honour killing’ with his brother, her cousin.

The macabre scene was filmed in the neighbourhood of Khashayar in the city of Ahvaz in the south-western Iranian province of Khuzestan on 5th February.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said the victim was forced to marry her cousin Sajjad Heydari when she was just 12 years old.

They also said the young girl allegedly suffered domestic violence, and every time she expressed a desire to divorce him, her family pressured her to return home for the sake of their child.

At one point, Mona reportedly fled to Turkey to escape her partner’s violence, but returned after finding it difficult to live alone in a strange country.

Local media said the brother of her husband wrapped the girl’s body in a blanket and dumped it in one area while the husband walked along the street with his wife’s head in one hand and a large blade in the other.

In the video, the suspect is seen grinning from ear to ear as he holds the teenager’s head, passing by local residents.

The chief of the State Security Force (SSF) said the motive for the killing was “family differences”.

Meanwhile, the state-run news site Rokna was reportedly shut down for publishing the story and the footage at the time of the incident.

The NCRI’s Women’s Committee said: “Not a week goes by without some form of honour killing making headlines. The clerical regime’s failure to criminalise these murders has led to a catastrophic rise in honour killings.

“In a report published in 2019, the state-run Sharq daily newspaper wrote that an annual average of 375 to 450 honour killings are recorded in Iran. The murders are more prevalent in Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Ilam, and Sistan and Baluchestan.

“Some women’s rights activists believe that honour killings in Iran are officially justified as ‘family differences’.

“The catastrophic rise in honour killings in Iran is rooted in misogyny and the patriarchal culture institutionalised in the laws and society. Although the father, brother, or husband holds the knife, sickle, or rifle, the murders are rooted in the medieval outlook of the ruling regime. The clerical regime’s laws officially denote that women are second-degree citizens owned by men.”

The suspect and his brother were reportedly arrested after the alleged killing. However, it is unclear what punishment they are likely to face.