Authorities arrested six family members in Peoria, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, for allegedly trying to kidnap a 20-year-old female relative because she has a non-Muslim boyfriend — and she is approximately 5-months pregnant. The victim later told police how she feared dying at the hands of her relatives because they believe she brought dishonor to them.
The woman’s relatives disapprove of her boyfriend because he is not a Muslim. In Maricopa County Superior Court, detectives filed a probable cause statement stating they believe the six arrested family members planned to send the woman back to Iraq. Once in Iraq, it is likely that her life — and her unborn child’s life — would be sacrificed in an honor killing.
— DeniseHollarHambrook (@DeniseHollar) August 29, 2021
The pregnant woman, her non-Muslim boyfriend, and his family filed over twenty police reports with various precincts in Arizona. The reports document accusations of harassment, disorderly conduct, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. Police never revealed the identities of the woman or her boyfriend.
In a Yuma, Arizona police report, the victim’s brother was arrested last March for successfully kidnapping her. He planned to take her back to her family, likely for an honor killing.
However, the family’s kidnapping efforts did not end there. The young woman was allegedly forced into a parked car on August 18thin Avondale. That is where the family reportedly started punching her in her abdomen. There were two witnesses in that parking lot who helped the victim escape, police said.
Peoria police revealed that six of the victim’s family members were arrested on Friday, August 27th, for allegedly kidnapping the 20-year-old pregnant relative and also for punching her in the stomach. Their names are Fares Alfartousi (63), Ali Alfartousi (33), Souad Alfartousi (59), Bashir Alfartousi (36), Yaser Alfartousi (35), and Zahraa Alfartousi (31).
Court records contain details from detectives regarding the accusations of recent assaults and threats at a medical building in Avondale. They described how the relatives confiscated the woman’s purse and cell phone, as well as her boyfriend’s gun, during the “violent assault.” The woman grabbed one of the officers and pleaded with him, saying, “please, don’t let them take me,” the court records reveal.
Additionally, the victim’s brother allegedly left a threatening voicemail in May promising to kidnap the boyfriend’s teenage sister unless the woman is returned to her family, said police.
And in March 2021, police said the victim, her boyfriend, and his family all fled to Yuma, Arizona, to escape her family’s harassment and violence. But her family still found them at the hotel they were staying at and attempted to kidnap her again.
As the 20-year-old pregnant woman expressed her fear of dying in an honor killing, she referenced the demise of Noor Almaleki. Almaleki was also 20 years old when her father hit and killed her in a parking lot with his car.
Almaleki’s father is an immigrant from Iraq. He was convicted of murder after the prosecution determined that he killed his daughter because he perceived she was becoming too westernized.
