Göta Appeal Court in Jönköping agreed with the original ruling by Kalmar District Court that the parents’ involvement in the crime had not been proven.
The 18-year old, whose family is originally from Afghanistan, said that he alone was responsible for the killing, claiming that it followed an argument between him and Rezai that had spiraled out of control at the family’s apartment in Högsby, southern Sweden.
The appeal court confirmed the sentence of four years in a secure youth detention unit, followed by deportation.
Rezai had a relationship with the 16-year old sister of the convicted man. The prosecution argued that this was why he was killed, calling it an honour killing, and said that other members of the family had participated in the murder.
During the attack, Rezai was scalded with hot oil, hit with a variety of objects and stabbed a number of times in the back and chest. Most of the stab wounds were sustained after death. It appears that Rezai’s shirt was unbuttoned before one of the stabs in the area round his heart. He was also almost entirely scalped and one of his fingers had been partially chopped off.
Rezai was found dead in the family’s apartment in November last year. The family had disappeared to relatives in Denmark, although they later turned back and handed themselves over to police.
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