By Kayhan Life Staff
Between Aug. 23 and Oct. 22, 38 women and children in Iran were killed by family members in incidents of domestic violence, according to a report in the Tehran-based newspaper Sharq. Experts said economic hardship and psychological burnout were key drivers of the violence.
According to Sharq, 13 of the victims were children and teenagers under the age of 18. In most cases, the perpetrator was the victim’s husband, ex-husband, or male relative.
Citing experts in social harm and social sciences, the report said: “Many of these murders happened after months or years of domestic violence, and the warning signs were visible before the crime. For this reason, institutions such as the Judiciary, the State Welfare Organization of Iran (SWO), and the Vice Presidency for Women’s and Family Affairs should show greater sensitivity to these crimes.”
According to Sharq, a motive was reported in only some of the cases. In four cases, the killings followed the woman’s request for a divorce or separation. In five others, reports cited family disputes or repeated domestic violence before the killings.
In several other cases, the reported motives pointed to a desire for control. A 26-year-old woman was killed by her 50-year-old husband for “neglecting housework,” while a 70-year-old woman was strangled by her husband for speaking to a stranger in the street.
In Kermanshah, in western Iran, a father shot his 16-year-old daughter dead as she slept because she had opposed a forced marriage. She had been forced to leave school after the fourth grade. In roughly half of the cases, no motive was reported.
The report added that many of the killings were particularly brutal. Two women, one in Mashhad in northeastern Iran and the other in Isfahan in central Iran, were beheaded by their husbands. In the Mashhad case, the woman’s two young children were also killed, and the perpetrator then took his own life.
Another woman in Mashhad was stabbed and then set on fire. In Tehran’s Khak-Sefid neighborhood, officially known as Golshan, a woman died in a deliberately set house fire after asking for a divorce.
On Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, a 28-year-old woman was mutilated in an attack involving repeated blows to her genitals by her brother-in-law and his wife. In three cases, there were signs that the perpetrators had attempted to conceal or stage the killings to make them appear to be accidents or suicides.
Sharq stressed that children, among society’s most vulnerable members, feature prominently in these accounts. Eight children were killed alongside their mothers or in the same attacks.
In the northwestern city of Tabriz, a man killed his wife and their two children. In Dehloran, in the western province of Ilam, a 57-year-old man killed his second wife and three children — 9-year-old twins and a 13-year-old boy — before taking his own life.
Among the other victims, a two-year-old girl died after being beaten by her father, and a 13-year-old girl was shot dead by her brother. Behind each statistic was a human life, and the failure to hear these victims’ voices had fatal consequences.
Although domestic violence occurs inside the home, the conditions that fuel anger and aggression are often rooted in wider social and economic problems. Experts stress that economic insecurity is directly linked to escalating domestic violence.
In a June 27 report by the Tehran-based news website Fararu, Fatemeh Babakhani, a women’s rights activist and founder of the Mehr Shams Afarid safehouse, said: “Economics has always been a deterrent to violence. Women who have access to income, a job, or even the means to afford a small place to live are less likely to be forced to stay in violent environments.”
“However, a series of crises in recent years, from the COVID pandemic to the economic recession and the consequences of the war in recent months, have made conditions far harder for women.”
“Rising unemployment, layoffs, business closures, and the sudden growth in housing, healthcare, and living costs have placed added pressure on women, pressure that is not limited to the economic sphere,” she explained.
“In recent months, besides enduring economic crises, women have also carried the burden of caring for their families and children and managing daily life in unstable conditions. Even the remote work of employed women has not been recognized in many families, and they are still expected to fulfill their traditional domestic roles in full.”
Babakhani also argued that one of the most worrying consequences of the economic crisis has been the return of some women to abusive environments.
“Rising rents, job loss, or the inability to cover living costs have forced some women to accept living with an abusive person again,” she added. “We have encountered situations in which women, after losing their jobs or facing housing costs they could not manage, had to return to the difficult circumstances they once fought to escape.”
The rising number of killings, alongside repeated cases of domestic violence, femicide and child murder, underscores the urgent need for serious prevention efforts, support for people at risk, and stronger mechanisms to identify and intervene in dangerous situations before it is too late.
Experts, activists, and lawyers have raised these concerns for years, but officials in the Islamic Republic have failed to prioritize the issue.
Speaking to Sharq about the numerous campaigns addressing domestic violence, Hamed Bidi, CEO and founder of the Tehran-based Karzar campaign platform, said: “The number of campaigns hosted on the Karzar platform specifically on the subject of femicide is 26.”
“But if we broaden the scope to include issues such as unequal enjoyment of the right to life, domestic violence, the killing of children, and acid attacks, 63 campaigns with more than 360,000 signatures have been hosted on our platform so far. Many of these campaigns formed after news of bitter and catastrophic incidents, news that provoked a broad public reaction.”
He added: “I think the response to these events shows how effective tangible accounts of violence and its consequences can be in drawing society’s attention and in forming waves of public demand. However, more than 10 years have passed since the issue of ‘violence against women’ was first raised, and it still has not been finally approved.”
Bidi was referring to the bill on “violence against women,” which has undergone several name and content changes over more than a decade.
In the latest development, the government withdrew the bill from the Majlis, Iran’s parliament, in spring 2025. The stated reason was repeated revisions by the 12th parliament, including renaming the bill “Preserving and Promoting the Dignity of Women and Family” and removing the word “violence.”
The government first submitted the bill to the Majlis in spring 2016. Parliament approved its general outline in late 2017, but the bill was never passed.
