Woman who police say was run over by her father dies

PHOENIX —  A young Iraqi woman whose father allegedly ran her down with his car because she had become too Westernized died from her injuries Monday.

Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, had been in a coma for nearly two weeks. She had been hospitalized since Oct. 20, when police say her father ran over her and her boyfriend’s mother with his Jeep as the women walked across a parking lot in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria.

The other woman, Amal Khalaf, is expected to survive.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, fled but was arrested Thursday at Atlanta’s airport, where he was sent from Britain after authorities there denied him entrance.

Peoria police interviewed him and brought him back to Arizona. At a court hearing over the weekend in Phoenix, county prosecutor Stephanie Low told a judge that Almaleki had admitted the crime.

“By his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family,” Low said. “This was an attempt at an honor killing.”

Family members had told police that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he thought she had become too Westernized.

Almaleki had faced charges of aggravated assault, but Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said the charges would be upgraded in light of Noor Faleh Almaleki’s death.