A heroic teenage boy has described how he saved his girlfriend’s life as her parents allegedly tried to strangle her in an ‘honor killing’.
Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, are charged with second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after the attack on October 18.
The girl, 17, who can’t be named, ran away from home to Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington, after her parents tried to put her on a plane to Iraq.
‘Her father had recently been threatening her with honor killing for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another county,’ the girl told police.
Shocking video showed Ihsan on the ground with his daughter in a chokehold outside the school, while classmates desperately tried to free her.
Ihsan and Zahraa both pleaded not guilty and are expected to go on trial in July.
The girl met her boyfriend at the school after she fled her home and school officials arranged for her to stay at a women’s shelter.
However, the school did not arrange transport there, so the couple went outside to catch a bus, and spotted Ihsan’s pickup truck in the car park.
The girl’s 16-year-old boyfriend in the clothes he was wearing during the attack
The teenage boy explained to police in an interview on November 6 that a friend told him Ihsan had seen them and was heading their way.
‘[The girl] was scared, shaking, and had a tremble in her voice,’ Detective Julie Mullen wrote in a report obtained by the Daily Mail.
The boy stood between his girlfriend and her father as they tried to get to the bus as it arrived, and attempted to separate them when Ihsan tried to pull her away.
Ihsan then allegedly punched him in the head and he remembered falling down and everything going black.
‘[He] said when he got up [the girl’s] dad was “choking” her and [two other students] punched [Ihsan] in the face and people were yelling to call 911,’ Mullen wrote.
‘He started punching her dad in the face but he continued to choke [the girl] and said others were trying to pull her out while he continued to punch her dad in the head.
‘He continued to punch Ishan until his “head got soft” and he got knocked out.’
The boy then helped his girlfriend off the ground, but she ‘couldn’t breathe’ and didn’t know what was going on.
Ihsan Ali, 44, allegedly tried to strangle his daughter in an ‘honor killing’ outside her school and was charged with attempted murder
Shocking video allegedly showed Ihsan Ali, 44, on the ground with his daughter in a chokehold, while classmates desperately tried to free her
Just as he was helping her to his feet, he alleged Zahraa and the girl’s eldest sister Haneen, 21, came up behind them and pushed him out of the way to get to her.
He told police he tried to ‘fight them off’ by putting up his arm up and pushing them away, and in the melee the girl and Zahraa were pushed to the ground.
‘Once [the girl] and her mom were on the ground, her mom put her arm around her neck and started choking her,’ Mullen wrote.
He said that as he tried to pull the girl away from Zahraa, Haneen yelled ‘what are you doing this?’ at him.
The boy was eventually able to pull his girlfriend to her feet and then away from Haneen when she allegedly grabbed her, and flee towards the school.
The brave teenager suffered a ‘boxer’s fracture’ to his finger as he tried to get Ishan off his girlfriend, and bruises and scratches on his head and face.
He wasn’t diagnosed with a concussion but had symptoms such as sensitivity to light and headaches when he tried to watch TV or play video games.
His mother told police it ‘took him several days to talk about the incident without crying’.
The boy also told police about an earlier incident at the school with Zahraa on September 16 last year where she attacked him.
He suffered a boxer’s fracture as he tried to get Ishan off his girlfriend, which is now in a cast, and was evident in the photos taken by police
A scratch on his jaw allegedly suffered during the struggle
He explained the incident was sparked by Zahraa seeing him and the girl kiss three times outside the school.
The girl told him her ‘life was ruined’ after she realized that her mother had spotted them.
‘[The girl’s] mom grabbed his arm and told him to get in her car but he continued to walk to the bus. [The boy] said he was yelling and causing a scene,’ Mullen wrote.
The girl earlier told police in a three-hour interview with police on October 24 that she ran away because she was terrified of being taken to Iraq where she would be married off, abused, and forced to have children – never to return home.
She explained that after her boyfriend was knocked to the floor with his eyes closed, Ihsan grabbed her in a viscous attack.
‘[The girl] said her dad yanked her down and put her in a headlock. She said he was “choking” her “really hard” and she remembered grabbing his arm but then passed out,’ police wrote.
From there, her memory of Ihsan’s attack ended, and she only knew what happened by watching the video of her boyfriend and classmates heroically saving her life.
But the attempt on her life was not over, as Zahraa allegedly seized her and tried to finish the ‘honor killing’.
‘Someone pushed them to the ground, and then her mom started to choke her and was screaming in her ear,’ Mullen wrote.
Victor Barnes (pictured), the boyfriend’s father
By the time police arrived, the girl’s brave 16-year-old boyfriend and his classmates had fought off Ihsan, saving her life, and adult passerby Josh Wagner restrained him on the ground
Ihsan in police bodycam footage sitting a patrol car. His jacket was torn in the struggle and dirt pressed into one side of his face during the attack
The girl also detailed her father’s alleged threats to kill her for dating an American boy, and refusing an arranged marriage.
‘If I could kill you, I would kill you, but I can’t do that. I can’t do that because there’s cops and CPS people involved right now because of you,’ she claimed he said.
‘And I can’t touch you because you will immediately go to the school.’
The girl told police Ihsan another time told her he wanted to ‘hurt her so badly but there are cops here’ but also told her how he would ‘kill her no matter what happens’ and he ‘did not care if anyone saw him’.
Police bodycam footage obtain by DailyMail.com showed officers arriving at the school and arresting Ihsan, who demanded to speak to his daughter.
‘Just let me tell her to come home – not like that. If I tell her to go home, she will go home,’ he insisted, but police ignored him.
Officers then had to deal with Zahraa and Haneen, who were hysterical and only left after Zahraa was allowed to speak to Ihsan.
Ishan’s eldest daughter Haneen, 21, and wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, were also involved in the attack. Zahraa was also charged with attempted murder but Haneen is not charged with a crime
The girl (pictured) spent four days in St Peter Hospital for treatment after a strangulation exam, having complained of neck, throat, and jaw pain, and had difficulty swallowing
These are some of the cuts, welts, and broken bones the teenage girl suffered when her parents allegedly tried to strangle her in an ‘honor killing’
Police did not realize Zahraa also allegedly tried to kill her daughter until four days later, leaving her free to continue looking for her daughter, who was in hiding.
Zahraa drove her youngest children, two boys aged five and three, into Canada and dropped them off with an Ihsan’s brother and mother, who lived there.
She then returned to Washington before trying to cross into Canada a second time with a ‘notable quantity of baggage’ on the night of October 22, but was arrested by customs officers.
