(Image Source: NY Daily News)
BY CHRISTINE SLUSSER
ANCHOR ALEX HOLLEY
You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.
In Arizona, Iraqi immigrant Faleh Almaleki was sentenced to 34 ½ years in prison Friday for driving his car over his 20-year-old daughter and her boyfriend’s mother in 2009. While the mother survived--Almaleki’s daughter Noor wasn’t as fortunate. HLN has the back story.
ANCHOR: “The Iraqi immigrant ran over his 20-year-old daughter because he thought that she’d become too westernized. At a sentencing, the man apologized for killing his daughter.”
Prosecutors called it an “honor killing”, the defense an accident--and the judge, who even teared up during the sentencing, didn’t let Almaleki off the hook.
JUDGE: “He was driven out of hatred to kill his own daughter because it suited his purpose. So to say this is an honor killing is deeply, deeply, deeply wrong.”
After the attack, Almaleki drove to Mexico and boarded a plane to Britain--where he was detained and sent back to the States. But some media have called the sentence quote “harsh” --
“He could’ve faced 46 years in prison, and that 34 ½ years is still a pretty stiff sentence.” (Video Source: KNXV)
While the sentence wasn’t as long as it could have been--KSAZ explains, the judge wasn’t buying any “It-was-an-accident” excuse.
“The Iraqi immigrant wanted to restore honor to his family, but the judge believes he was motivated simply by hatred, not religion.”
Finally, BBC reports exactly what it was that made the father so angry at his daughter.
“At the age of 17 ...[she]... refused to enter into an arranged marriage in Iraq, which enraged her father, a court paper said. She then began living with her boyfriend and his mother at 19 years of age, after saying her parents had hit her.”
The Phoenix New Times reports, Almaleki will get credit for 18 months already served, but will not be eligible for parole until he’s 80 years old.
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