A mother was arrested at the border while fleeing to Canada after she allegedly tried to strangle her daughter in an ‘honor killing’.
Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and assault after the attack on October 18, alongside her husband Ihsan Ali, 44.
The girl, 17, who was not 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 country,’ the girl told police, according to court documents.
Shocking video allegedly showed Ihsan on the ground with his daughter in a chokehold outside the school, while classmates desperately tried to free her.
After they fought him off, Zahraa allegedly tried to finish the job but was stopped by the girl’s 16-year-old boyfriend and classmates.
Ihsan was arrested on the spot, but Zahraa was free for another four days until she was detained by customs officers trying to cross into Canada.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office deputy Tawsha Dykstra wrote in her report that she was dispatched to the border at 8.38pm on October 22 to arrest Zahraa on a domestic assault warrant.
Zahraa was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Whatcom County Jail until Lacey Police arrived to pick her up.
