Saba Farhoudnia

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Reyhaneh Ameri

Third “honor killing” in one month shakes many Iranians

Another brutal “honor killing” in June 2020 has shaken Iran for the third time in less than a month, with the Islamic government trying to do damage control and avoiding blame for its policies of light punishment for the guilty perpetrators.

Referring to the latest “honor killing” said to have been committed with an ax, Kerman province's deputy police chief claimed that 22-year-old Rayhaneh Ameri was not killed by an ax, but with an iron bar, and that her father regretted killing his daughter. Iranians have been expressing their outrage about the news of the young girl being murdered by her enraged father.

Rayhaneh's sister had visited her parents' home, and she and her mother went to Rayhaneh's room and found garments soaked in her blood. Later, police found traces of blood leading to Rayhaneh's father's car. Tracking the father's cell phone revealed that he had gone to the village nearby. Shortly afterward, he confessed to killing his daughter with an ax and throwing her away in the village.

"Rayhaneh Ameri, another Romina; another young girl killed by her father's ax, merely for coming back home late. We are returning to the Stone and Ice Age, when they just hunted and killed animals to survive. They did not kill their own species," a social media user lamented.

Based on the initial reports, Rayhaneh's father had "proudly" confessed to murdering his daughter.

Apparently, he also tried to kill her in 2017, but she was "saved" by her sister.

The third honor killing comes after the murder of Romina Ashrafi, a teenage girl from Talesh, northern Iran, by her father with a sickle, and the beheading of Ms. Fatemeh Farahi in Abadan by her husband, who was also her cousin.

Violence against women in the form of "honor killings" has triggered a wave of criticism on the country's social media and political space.

See: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/third-honor-killing-in-one-month-shakes-many-iranians/30676477.html

Negin (Galaleh) Sheikhi

Femicide in Saqqez: Young woman brutally murdered by her fiancé

The body of a young woman from Saqqez was discovered by police on the Saqqez-Sanandaj road on June 8, 2021; she had been brutally murdered and set on fire by her fiancé.

According to Hengaw sources, Negin (Galaleh) Sheikhi, 26-years-old, who had a bachelor's degree in law and worked in a law firm, was traveling with her fiancé, Kiomars Zarghami, who is also her cousin. Zarghami later called his sister and told her that he had killed Negin and that he had hidden her body on the Sanandaj-Saqqez road. It took a police search a few days to find Negin's body. Zarghami had set fire to her body with 5 liters of gasoline.

Over the course of a few days, at least five women in the cities of Saqqez, Kermanshah, Ilam and Darrehshahr had been killed by their relatives, four of them their husbands and fiancés.

See: https://hengaw.net/en/news/femicide-in-saqqez-young-women-brutally-murdered-by-by-her-fiance

Romina Ashrafi 

Romina Ashrafi: Outrage in Iran after girl murdered ‘for eloping’

Police in Iran arrested a man accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter in a so-called honor killing that has sparked widespread outrage.

Romina Ashrafi ran away from home in Gilan province with her 35-year-old boyfriend after her father objected to their marriage, local media said. The pair were found by police, and Romina was sent home despite reportedly telling them she feared for her life.

In May 2020, she was allegedly attacked by her father in her bedroom.

News outlet Gilkhabar.ir reported that Romina was "decapitated" with a sickle, and that afterwards the father walked outside the house "with the sickle in his hand and confessed."

National newspapers highlighted Romina's story on their front pages. "Insecure paternal home," read the headline in the pro-reform Ebtekar, which lamented the failure of existing legislation to protect women and girls.

Meanwhile, the Persian hashtag #Romina_Ashrafi has been used more than 50,000 times on Twitter, with most users condemning the killing and the patriarchal nature of Iranian society in general.

Shahindokht Molaverdi, a former vice-president for women and family affairs and the current secretary of Iran's Society for Protecting Women's Rights, wrote: "Romina is neither the first nor will she be the last victim of honour killings."

She added that such murders would continue "as long as the law and dominant cultures in local and global communities are not deterring enough."

Iran's Islamic penal code reduces punitive measures for fathers and other family members who are convicted of murder or physically harming children in domestic violence or "honor killings."

See: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52811631