A Phoenix jury has convicted an Iraqi immigrant of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter in what prosecutors say was an “honor killing.”

The case stems from late 2009, when Noor Al-Maleki was run over and killed in a parking lot in suburban Phoenix. Her father, Faleh Hassan Al-Maleki, was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit her. At the trial, prosecutors said that Al-Maleki was upset by his daughter’s refusal to accept an arranged marriage.

Noor Al-Maleki had instead decided to go to college; she also had a boyfriend. When she was struck by her father’s Jeep, she was walking with her boyfriend’s mother, Amal Khalaf, who was also injured in the episode.

NPR’s Ted Robbins reports that “a detective testified during the trial that Al-Maleki admitted he intentionally ran over his daughter, but he also repeatedly called it an accident. The defense called no witnesses.”

The Arizona Republic reports that when he is sentenced Wednesday, Al-Maleki “faces 10 to 22 years in prison for second-degree murder, 5 to 15 years for aggravated assault, and 2 to 8-3/4 years for leaving the scene of the accident.

All of those sentences would be stacked on top of each other, meaning Al-Maleki can face 17 to 45-3/4 years in prison. He is already 50 years old.”

The sad incident has echoes of some of the stories in a two-part series on honor killings in America aired by NPR in 2009. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.