A court in Turkey sentenced a man to life in prison for killing his wife after she gave birth to a second daughter instead of a son. He electrocuted her in her sleep.

In January 2014, 29-year-old Veysi Turan attached cables to the feet of Mübarek Turan, 33, when she was in bed. He called the police, but they failed to talk him out of the murder. He electrocuted her while he was on the phone.  Al-Arabiya reports:

“I killed someone,” the man told the police operator, according to the transcript.

“Who did you kill?” asked the officer on the other end.

“I am killing my wife right now,” said the man.

“Did you kill her or are you killing her?” the officer asked.

“Well, she isn’t dead yet. But I am killing her if the murder is halal (permissible in Islam),” the man replied.

The officer then asked if the suspect had a problem with his wife.

“I am telling you that I killed my wife but you are asking what the problem was,” the man replied.

“I closed her mouth as she is in the throes of death,” he then said.

At which point the police operator snapped into action: “OK, wait. I am sending a unit.”

Turan apparently premeditated the murder, as the prosecution showed the court he bought “special gloves and electrical equipment.”

Men killed 253 women in Turkey in 2014. On August 14, four women were killed in three different regions. An 81-year-old man killed his 55-year-old wife after she refused him sex for the second time. Another man killed his wife while both were under the influence of alcohol. A 79-year-old man killed his two sisters after the three argued over property ownership.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) received criticism for lack of protection of women. It is also the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently stressed that Turks are to marry Turks, women are not equal to men, and birth control use is treason against the country. Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Aylin Nazliaka proposed a bill for more shelters and criticized the AK Party on the Floor:

Look at the policies that you impose on the female body, and even on what women wear, what women eat, what color of lipstick they use, whether pregnant women can walk on the streets or not, whether the laughter of women stains their chastity and whether women and men should engage in folk dancing together or not, these have all become matters of discussion at this point. Even getting mixed-sex education has become a matter of debate. And you are responsible. You know how three of us are killed each day and you know there is a 40 percent increase in violence against women. Those who dictate to women how to act are the ones who encourage those murderers.