Hero schoolboy cries as he reveals how he saved girlfriend when her parents 'tried to strangle her in honor killing'

Daily Mail​

17-07-2025

A teenage boy cried on the witness stand as he told how he saved his girlfriend's life while her parents allegedly tried to strangle her in a religious 'honor killing'.
Fatima Ali, now 18, was nearly killed in a chokehold by her father, Ihsan Ali, after she refused to travel to Iraq for an arranged marriage, prosecutors said.
Isiah, whose full name is not being used as he is a minor, told Thurston County Superior Court in Washington how he punched Fatima's father in the head 30 or 40 times in a bid to stop the attack outside of Timberline High School on October 18.
'Her face was looking pale and her eyes were starting to roll back,' he said on Wednesday. When prosecutor Heather Stone asked him to elaborate, he broke down in tears, and his testimony had to be stopped.
Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, are charged with second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping of their daughter last year.
They have been behind bars since the attack on bonds of $1 million and $500,000.
Terrifying footage first published by the Daily Mail showed Ali put her in a chokehold on the ground until Isiah and bystanders rescued her.
Ihsan and Zahraa are accused of attempting to carry out a Muslim 'honor killing' on Fatima for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man, prosecutors said.
Fatima earlier told the court she fled her home at 6am with just a bag of clothes and $100 hours before she was supposed to be on a one-way trip to Najaf in Iraq.
She met with her counselor at Timberline, who got her a place at Haven House, a youth crisis center, but the school didn't provide transport.
Isiah, who was 16 at the time, escorted Fatima to the bus stop, and Ihsan was waiting when they arrived.
He said: 'We're walking towards the bus stop and he starts to get more aggressive. We see the bus and then he grabbed her shoulder.
'I tried to push them away from each other. I look back at him and then he punches me. For a second I don't know what happened and then I saw him grab her.'
Isiah bounced his leg as he told the court he 'flew back' from the force of the punch and watched as Ihsan 'spun Fatima around' and grabbed her by the throat.
The teen boy demonstrated with his arms how Ihsan put Fatima in a 'headlock' on the ground and choked her even after she lost consciousness.
'I start punching him as he's choking her and other people around me are trying to get him off of her,' he said.
'She's gasping for air, trying to get his arms off her throat. At first she was trying to fight it, but then she went limp. It's chaotic, everyone is screaming.'
Isiah said he kept punching Ihsan until 'his eyes closed and his grip released.' The teen boy broke a finger during the ordeal.
Once Ihsan was restrained by a passing motorist, Isiah said he tried to get Fatima to her feet so they could go somewhere safe.
That was when Zahraa and Fatima's eldest sister Haneen, 21, showed up.
'Her mother is screaming and she grabs Fatima around her throat area,' Isiah told the court. The boy said his neck was scratched and his chain was broken by Haneen.
Fatima, who was 17 at the time, told the jury how her consciousness slipped away in her father's grasp.
Stone asked Fatima, a petite 5ft 1in girl, what she was thinking as she struggled to stay alive. 'Heartbroken for what my dad did,' she said, before admitting she was scared she was going to die.
She said: 'I saw darkness at first. [Then] I saw Isiah and a friend standing above me.'
The trial is expected to continue for the rest of the month.