State-affiliated media in Iran reported that on Saturday, July 27, 2025, a 45-year-old man shot and killed his wife and 13-year-old daughter in the Chitgar district of Tehran.
In recent years, the harrowing phenomenon of femicide in Iran — often framed as so-called “honor killings” — has become an alarming social crisis. According to documented figures, in 2024 alone, on average one woman was killed every two days by a family member. Experts note that these numbers reflect only officially reported cases, meaning the true scale of the crisis is likely far greater.
Between March and June 2025, at least 35 women and girls were murdered by their closest male relatives — most often husbands or fathers — across different Iranian cities. In many cases, the victims were killed simply for seeking divorce, striving for financial independence, or resisting discrimination. Notably, 28 of these murders occurred in Iran’s central and Persian-speaking provinces.
The inability — and in many cases unwillingness — of Iran’s legal and institutional structures to prevent, prosecute, and respond effectively to such crimes has created a devastating vacuum of justice and security for women. Human rights experts and women’s rights advocates stress that the alarming rise in femicide in Iran is not merely the result of domestic violence but is directly fueled by state policies and discriminatory laws.
Documented evidence shows that family-based killings of women, especially so-called “honor crimes,” occur on average once every two days in Iran. The Iran Human Rights Center has underscored that the government’s systematic negligence, coupled with lenient sentencing in such cases, perpetuates this cycle of violence. Furthermore, legal provisions such as Article 301 of the Islamic Penal Code — which exempts fathers and paternal grandfathers from capital punishment for killing their children — effectively grant impunity and embolden perpetrators to commit such crimes without fear of real punishment.
This entrenched legal discrimination, rights groups argue, is a central driver behind the persistence and escalation of femicide in Iran.
Report: Shahram Mirzaei
