Honour Killing: Father Sedates Filmmaker Son, Dumps His Dismembered Body In Trash Bin

An Iranian film director was sedated and chopped to death by his parents in an honour killing row over not getting married.

47-year-old Babak Khorranmdin’s dismembered body was found stuffed in a suitcase in a trash bin outside his parents' home in Ekbatan, a neighborhood in the west of Tehran, on Sunday, May 16.

Tehran police ordered a search of the family home and discovered evidence that clearly indicated the death to be a murder.

According to a report by the Rokna News Agency, Khorranmdin’s father has confessed to the murder.

"Because of the disputes we had, I sedated him this morning (Sunday) by giving him anaesthetics, then stabbed him to death. Then I dismembered his body and threw it in the nearest trash can on the street with my wife,” the agency reported the father as saying.

Khorranmdin moved to London a year after he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran.

He later returned to his hometown to teach cinema to his country folks.

"Babak was a filmmaker, and a few years ago I often met him in London's cultural and artistic circles. I heard that he missed his family and had returned to Iran, and now I saw this horrible news, and I cannot believe it. What a dreadful time," filmmaker and critic, Parviz Jahed, wrote on his Instagram page.

The filmmaker’s death "has shocked the country", Iran International TV reported.

"I think the horrific death of Babak Khorramdin is only the latest example of a long pattern of domestic violence that we have seen in Iran," Iran International TV Middle East Analyst and Editor Jason Brodsky said.

"It follows the tragic death of Ali Fazeli Monfared, who was killed by family members after they found out he was gay. That is not to mention the case last year of Romina Ashfrafi, a 14-year-old girl who was beheaded by her father in an honour killing."

"Despite a child protection law being passed in 2020 in Iran, honour killings and domestic violence continue more broadly, and this is an area the international community needs to address with Iran."