A father accused of trying to strangle his teenage daughter in a Muslim ‘honor k!lling’ has been jailed for almost three years in the US.
Ihsan Ali, 44, was charged with second-degree attempted murd£r alongside his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, over the October 18, 2024, attack.
A Thurston County Superior Court jury found them not guilty on July 31, but convicted Ihsan of lesser charges against his daughter, Fatima Ali.
Ihsan was jailed for 14 months for second-degree assault, 12 months for unlawful imprisonment, and 182 days for fourth-degree assault.
He was also ordered to complete a parenting class, do 18 months of community service, and have no contact with his daughter for 10 years.
Judge Christine Schaller blasted Ihsan for his ‘horrific actions’ including the ‘vicious assault on Fatima’ outside Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington.
Judge Schaller also sentenced Zahraa for breaching a restraining order, which she already served in pretrial detention.
Ihsan spent the past almost 10 months behind bars since his arrest days after the attack and will be credited with time served. Zahraa was released on July 31.
Fatima told police she ran away from home to after her parents tried to put her on a plane to Iraq.
‘Her father had recently been threatening her with honor k!lling for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another county,’ the initial police press release alleged.
But this claim, central to the prosecution’s original case last year, was completely absent from the three-week trial last month, by court order.
Jurors were shown horrifying video of Ihsan grabbing Fatima by the throat before putting her in a chokehold on the ground outside the school.
‘Her face was looking pale and her eyes were starting to roll back,’ Isiah, who was just 16 at the time, told the court through tears as he gave evidence.
Other students described how Fatima ‘couldn’t breathe’ her ‘lips were turning purple’ and she grabbed at her father’s arm in ‘obvious distress’.
Josh Wagner, a motorist who stopped his car in the middle of the road and ran to help, said her face was ‘changing color… she was gonna lose consciousness if it continued’.
Fatima herself took the witness stand and testified that she lost consciousness four times and was terrified that she was going to d!e.
The jury also heard that after Isiah, her classmates, and Wagner freed her by punching and kicking Ihsan dozens of times, Zahraa tried to finish the job.
‘When she (Fatima) got away from her father, she tried to run, and her mom had grabbed her and she was grabbing her by the throat,’ one classmate testified, as did other witnesses.
The jury had to be satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that Ihsan and Zahraa intended to kill their daughter when they choked her.
They weren’t, and entered not guilty verdicts after three days of deliberation.
‘Further, the state has no intention of even using the term at trial.’
Fatima is in extended foster care and, now an adult, cannot be compelled to return to her parents.
