The video is unbearable: For 30 seconds it shows a grinning man parading in the streets of Ahvaz, in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, holding a knife in one hand. In the other hand: his wife's head. He has just decapitated her after she ran away from their forced marriage. The incident has received international attention since February 5, and is rare visual proof of the persistence of "honour killings" in Iran, as detailed by our Observer.
An Iranian media website published the video on February 5. The victim, named Mona, was 17 years old. Her husband and killer, Sajjad, age 21, beheaded her just minutes before the footage was taken, with the help of his brother. As he walked through the town, passers-by applauded and cheered him on with cries of "Long live Sajjad".
