Two teenage girls were found dead in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran. They were both victims of honor killings.
The two teenage girls were shot to death by their family members in Torkani village of Dashtiari County in Sistan and Baluchestan.
Video footage circulated in social media this week shows locals finding the dead bodies of the two teenage girls in a deserted road.
Reliable sources say the murders happened nearly two months ago. The two victims of honor killings identified as B.T. and Y.T. were 17 and 18.
Hamshahrionline cited Colonel Ebrahim Kouchakzaii, the State Security Force commander in Chabahar, verifying the murders of the two young women by their family near Torkani village.
He said the reason for the murder of the two teenage girls was “anger over their escape from home for several days.” Two of their relatives killed them on the way before reaching home. The killers are presently in detention.
The two victims of honor killings called home several days after they escaped. They had decided to return home and expressed remorse. The family welcomed them, but the girls encountered several angry relatives who shot them to death before reaching home.
The Hamshahrionline report published on December 25, 2021, said the two victims of honor killings had been killed 50 days before.
Hundreds of victims of honor killings per year
In a report published in 2019, the state-run Sharq daily newspaper wrote that an annual average of 375 to 450 honor killings are recorded in Iran. The murders are more prevalent in Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Ilam, and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces.
The Iranian regime’s laws are not decisive in punishing the murderer. Usually, because the law considers the father the owner of his child’s blood, he does not receive a proportionate punishment for murdering his daughter. This is a license to kill, as evident in the murder of Romina Ashrafi by her father in May 2020.
The police and judicial authorities also act negligently. The law enforcement officers stop at the door. Under the clerical regime’s laws, they are not allowed to enter anyone’s house when a case of domestic violence against women is reported.
The catastrophic rise in honor killings in Iran is rooted in the patriarchal culture institutionalized in the laws and society. Although the father, brother, or husband holds the knife, sickle, or rifle, the murders are rooted in the medieval outlook of the ruling regime. The clerical regime’s laws officially denote that women are second-degree citizens owned by men.
The clerical regime’s failure to criminalize these murders has led to a disastrous surge in honor killings.
Some women’s rights activists believe that honor killings in Iran are officially justified as “family differences.”
Rezvan Moghaddam, who has documented honor killings in Iran over the past decade, questions this justification. She says, “This is just an effort to conceal the truth. For example, what could be the family difference between a father and his 13-year-old daughter or between a brother and his elder sister? There are other reasons behind these differences.
“In other cases, families regard divorce as a disgrace. To protect the family’s dignity, male relatives murder a woman who asks for a divorce. Again, this is explained under the title of ‘family differences.’
“Their fiancées kill some women for saying no to their proposals. These murders take place because the man believes he owns the body of his fiancé. He views her negative answer as an insult to himself. I believe honor killings are rooted in the sense of ‘owning a woman’s body and life, and any murder rooted in this sense of ownership is considered an honor killing.”
