PHOENIX - An Iraqi immigrant accused of fatally running over his daughter because she was too "westernized" may face murder charges, police in Arizona said Tuesday.
Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, is alleged to have ran over his daughter, Noor Almaleki, 20, and her boyfriend’s mother in a parking lot with a Jeep Grand Cherokee October 20.
Almaleki has admitted it was an attempt at an "honor killing" because his daughter shamed him and his family, prosecutors said. Noor Almaleki died Monday from injuries sustained in the attack.
Almaleki is being held on a five million dollar bond in Maricopa County Jail on two counts of aggravated assault but is now likely to face more serious charges, a police spokesman told AFP.
"There's a death involved, so I'm sure (charges) will be upgraded," said spokesman Mike Tellef of the Peoria Police Department. Charges could range from "manslaughter up to first degree murder."
Almaleki fled the country after the attack, driving to Mexico before flying to London. British authorities detained him and extradited him back to the United States.
Relatives told local media that Almaleki, who immigrated with his family from Iraq to Peoria, Illinois, in the mid-1990s, became infuriated when his daughter married a man in Iraq but returned to Arizona to live with her boyfriend and his mother, 43-year-old Amal Edan Khalaf.
Khalaf remains hospitalized, according to Tellef. A county prosecutor said at the weekend Almaleki admitted he tried to kill his daughter.
"By his own admission this was an intentional act and the reason was because his daughter brought shame on him and his family," county prosecutor Stephanie Low told a judge.