63-year-old man from Iran charged with brutal honor killing in Västerås

63-year-old Aziz Rahmani has been charged for the brutal honor killing in Västerås in November last year. Despite having been convicted of several violent crimes and being identified as practicing so-called honor culture, he was granted Swedish citizenship in 2023. Because of this, he cannot be deported from Sweden.

It was just before ten o’clock on Monday evening, November 3 last year, that police and ambulance were alerted to the townhouse area of Södra Gryta in Västerås. The call was made by a so-called member of the public. Two people, a woman and a man, were found stabbed.

The woman was the most seriously injured. She had been stabbed in, among other places, the stomach and chest, lost a lot of blood, and was declared dead at the hospital. The stabbed man, however, did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

Ex-husband

The murdered woman and the stabbed man were a mother in her 50s and her son, who is in his 20s. Both were attacked by the woman’s ex-husband; that is, the young man’s father.

The father in the divorced family is named Aziz Rahmani and is 63 years old. He was arrested by the police shortly after the murder and attempted murder. He was detained the following day and later remanded in custody that same week.

One and a half months before the incident, Aziz Rahmani had sought out his wife and threatened to harm her after she applied for divorce. He was then arrested by the police and detained, but subsequently released. A restraining order was issued by the prosecutor, along with a stern warning to leave his ex-wife alone.

The warning from Swedish authorities did not help. Despite this, he sought out and killed his former wife and stabbed their son.

Murder with an honor context

The family involved in the murder in Västerås comes from Kermanshah Province in western Iran. The man, woman, and their six children all came to Sweden in the autumn of 2006 via Jordan. The man also has a seventh child from a previous relationship. The family speaks Sorani, a dialect of the Kurdish language family.

In Sweden, the immigrant extended family came to the attention of social authorities. Several so-called LVU cases (Law with Special Provisions on the Care of Young People) were started against them. The reason was the strongly controlling environment in which the children were growing up.

According to an official document from 2016, which Samnytt has seen, it reads: “it is likely that the children are living in a violent environment and honor context,” and: “The investigation also shows that the violence is honor-related. The board states that by witnessing abuse, humiliation, and threats against their mother and siblings, the children are subjected to psychological abuse.”

Four of the family’s children, the youngest ones, were taken into custody by social authorities. The murder and attempted murder in November last year are also linked to this honor-based environment.

– The investigation shows that one motive for the murder was to preserve or restore his own or the family’s honor, says senior prosecutor Ann-Sofie Trossing, who leads the investigation, in a comment.

Swedish citizen

Aziz Rahmani has previously been convicted of several crimes in Sweden. In 2011, he was sentenced to a fine for assault. In 2014, he was convicted of assault a second time; this time, the penalty was three months in prison.

Neither of these assault convictions, nor the confirmation that he abused his children and imposed honor norms on them, prevented him from being granted Swedish citizenship in February 2023.

Since then, Rahmani was convicted of assault for a third time, in May last year, for which he was sentenced to five months in prison. The person he was convicted of assaulting was his wife, whom he, among other things, beat with a shoehorn and strangled until she lost consciousness.

Now Aziz Rahmani is once again being prosecuted; for murder, attempted murder, serious illegal threats, illegal threats, harassment, and several counts of violating the restraining order. Rahmani denies any wrongdoing.

Since Rahmani was granted Swedish citizenship three years ago, he cannot be deported from Sweden.