Horrified witnesses described the moment a teenage girl was almost choked to death outside her schoolin an “honour killing”.

The 17-year-old, who has not been named, ran away from home after her parents Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, tried to put her on a plane to Iraq.

Court documents relating to the case state the girl told police how “her father had recently been threatening her with honour killing for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another county.”

The terrified girl ran to Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington, where her 16-year-old boyfriend was a student. School officials reportedly took the malnourished-looking girl to a room and eventually found a safe place for her to go.

However she was told she would need to get there via public transport and as her boyfriend walked her to a bus stop at the front of the school her father leapt from his vehicle where he had been waiting and attacked her.

The incident took place outside Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington (

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According to an account from her boyfriend’s father Victor Barnes, another student who spoke Arabic shouted at him, “She doesn't want to go back with you. Leave her alone”.

“He didn't like what the kids said, he loses his mind and punches my son in the face,” Barnes told the Mail.

The girl told police how her father put her in a headlock and tried to choke her to death, saying: “It's not right… you are not supposed to do this”.

Barnes described how his son saw her “eyes roll back and her arms start flailing” before the girl fell unconscious. In an act of desperation the teenager repeatedly punched the 44-year-old in the head until he knocked him out, releasing his grip on the girl.

After the man released his grip, the girl’s mother Zahraa entered the fray and allegedly tried to choke her daughter to death herself. However a growing group of school children and passers-by had gathered by this point, allowing the teenage couple to flee back to the safety of the school building, Zahraa chased them but was not allowed in, Barnes claimed.

The father of the girl's boyfriend, Victor Barnes, said the school had let both teens down (

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Police arrested both parents at the scene on October 18 and they appeared at Thurston Country Superior Court on November 5. They are reportedly still behind bars pending the outcome of their trial. The boy suffered a fracture as he tried to save the girl - her medical condition is unclear.

Ishan was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree attempted kidnapping, second-degree attempted kidnapping, second-degree domestic assault, and fourth-degree assault.

Zahraa was charged with second-degree attempted murder first-degree attempted kidnapping, second-degree attempted kidnapping, second-degree domestic assault, and second-degree burglary.

Barnes blasted the school for their lack of care for the girl and his son. “At the end of the school day, the school made my child responsible for this girl's safety by asking him to help this girl get on the bus,' he wrote in the application.

“They continued to put this girl's family situation in the lap of my child as if he's an adult and understands the gravity of everything.”

The school said it took student and staff safety extremely seriously, in a statement about Barnes' concerns and had “conducted a debrief” in order to “consider whether there are actions we can take to improve in the future.”