The murder yesterday of a young woman who was the mother of a 5-year-old child by her husband was the latest in the endless chain of honor killings and femicide in Iran. During the past month, women remained victims of honor killings and femicide. However, the news about it is overshadowed and less heard due to protesters’ severe repression and arrest.
Marefat Karimi was the mother of a 5-year-old child
Kurdish media reported yesterday, February 18, 2023, that a woman named Marefat Karimi had been killed by her husband.
Marefat Karimi was a resident of Urmia and had a five-year-old child.
According to this report, Marefat’s brother-in-law died in a car accident not long ago. After some time, Mrs. Karimi discovered that her husband was planning to marry his deceased brother’s wife.
Marefat Karimi’s opposition led to her death at the hands of her husband.
Razwah Nadimi murdered by her ex-husband
Her ex-husband killed Razwah Nadimi on the morning of January 31, 2023.
Ms. Nadimi came from Kamyaran, in Kurdistan Province, and had two children. She was killed after her ex-husband shot her with a handgun.
Negin Rostami set on fire
On January 23, 2023, Negin Rostami was set on fire by an unknown person.
According to Negin Rostami, the person who attacked her was a short man whose face was covered. He poured gasoline on Negin and set her alight.
Negin Rostami was treated at Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj for burns across 95% of her body. She died five days later.
Negin Rostami was a resident of Ni village in Marivan. She had been a victim of forced child marriage and was constantly threatened by her ex-husband.
Zahra Landi murdered by her husband
Zahra (Nila) Landi, a young make-up artist living in Ahvaz, was killed around 8:30 am on January 29, 2023. Her husband fired her point-blank with his Colt pistol. Landi’s husband, Alireza Khajavi, is a well-known bodybuilder and powerlifting athlete from Ahvaz.
After killing his wife, Zahra Landi, Alireza Khajavi went to his father-in-law’s and killed Zahra’s brother, Yahya Landi. Khajavi later returned home and committed suicide.
According to social media reports, Nila’s latest WhatsApp story showed that she and Ali had done their morning exercises at 7 am. It is still unknown what happened after that.
One of Khajavi’s relatives said that the autopsy showed large amounts of psychoactive substances in Alireza Khajavi’s body.
Firouzeh Moradi was stabbed to death
Firouzeh Moradi, a 26-year-old from Kermanshah, was killed by her brother during a family dispute sometime in February.
Firouzeh was taken to one of Kermanshah’s medical centers after being stabbed. She eventually died due to the severity of her injuries.
Honor killing in Tehran
Afsaneh’s murder by her brother was reported on social media on January 20, 2023. This time, the killer was a university professor living in the capital city of Tehran.
The police found a woman’s body on the side of a street in northern Tehran and took it to a forensic specialist.
After investigating CCTV footage, the police discovered the car’s license plate from which the victim had been dropped. They found out the car belonged to a 45-year-old woman named Afsaneh, who had been missing for several days.
Afsaneh’s mother and brother had not filed any complaint that she was missing. Under interrogation, Afsaneh’s brother, Amir, admitted: “My sister was single and always wanted to be in contact with her friends. I always argued with her about this. Neighbors also complained about the loud music she listened to.
“My mother and I were tired of my sister’s behavior. The last time I got into a fight with my sister was when she insisted on going to a party. While she was sleeping, I placed a towel over her face and suffocated her. To keep the secret of the murder hidden, I put on my sister’s clothes, put her body in the trunk, and abandoned it on the street.”
Based on the clerical regime’s misogynistic laws, with the consent of the sole guardian, his mother, Amir was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the general crime, per Article 612 of the Islamic Penal Code.
Honor killings and femicide in Iran have political roots
Social calamities have political roots. These murders should be attributed to the misogynist mullah regime, the root cause of the inhumanity in this period of Iran’s history.
The abuse of women and girls is central to the regime’s inhuman beliefs and policies. This misogyny has been tacitly accepted through obscure laws and the spread of reactionary thinking of the ruling regime in Iran.
The mullahs’ regime is the first-row felon for honor killings and femicide in Iran.
Despite 11 years since it was proposed, violence against women has not yet been criminalized. The proposed bill to outlaw violence against women is sitting on the shelf.
Violence against and murder of women is, of course, an issue women worldwide endure. The difference is that in Iran, the clerical regime has built its pillars of power on misogyny, despite its international obligations.
The law and the regime encourage and support the most backward views and cultures in accepting violence against women.
The incredible dichotomy is apparent: arrested protesters are sentenced to 18 to 22 years in prison for exercising their natural rights, i.e., freedom of expression and the right to assemble. Women who kill their husbands in self-defense after years of abuse are executed. Mona Heydari’s husband, who paraded his wife’s severed head in the streets, was sentenced to only eight years in prison. Romina Ashrafi’s father was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
The root cause driving the high number of honor killings and femicide in Iran is the misogyny and patriarchal culture institutionalized in Iranian laws and society.
However, honor killings and femicide are not the only consequence of the mullahs’ misogynistic laws. The suicide of a mother who lost custody of her child is another example.
A woman commits suicide after losing custody of her child
Nasim Qaderzadeh, 25, from Saqqez, took her own life on February 3, 2023, after she learned that the court had deprived her of her child’s custody upon her ex-husband’s request.
Nasim Qaderzadeh had custody of her child after she divorced her husband. Recently, however, the court removed her right to custody of her child.
Under the laws of the clerical regime, a mother can have custody of her child until they are seven years old. After that, the child’s custody is granted to their father or paternal grandfather.
