The Independent United Nations Fact-Finding Mission (IFFM), which investigates allegations of serious human rights breaches in the Islamic Republic of Iran, said perpetrators of so-called honor killings in the country were exempt from punishment, in its first presentation to the UN General assembly.
An honor killing occurs when a woman or a girl accused of bringing shame upon their family is murdered, typically by a member of their family. Women and girls have been killed for refusing to enter into a marriage, for committing adultery and for marrying someone who displeased relatives in the family. Honor killings are very difficult to detect and are heavily underreported.
“‘Honor killings’ and other forms of gender-based violence, the mission reported, take place with impunity,” the IFFM said in an Oct. 31 statement. The mission noted that, based on credible information, at least 60 honor killings had taken place in Iran between March 2025 and September 2025.
“The acts of denying justice are not neutral,”Sara Hossain, the IFFM chair said on Oct. 31 at the UN General Assembly headquarters in New York. “Failure to address injustice prolongs the suffering of victims and undermines the State’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure accountability, truth, justice, and reparations.”
A June 2025 policy note produced by the UK government found that at least 450 honor killings take place annually in Iran, and that an estimated 20 percent of all murders in the country could qualify as honor killings. It also held that instances of such murders were likely to be far higher, as many families do not report the killings to authorities and falsely report the deaths as suicides or accidents instead.
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“The risk of becoming a victim of an honor-based crime is greater for girls and young women in traditional, poor, and rural areas of Iran, particularly the Kurdish region. Honor-based crimes can, however, also occur in urban areas, and are most reported in the Tehran province,” the note said. “Islamic law gives individuals the right to demand retaliation in kind (the death sentence) for a murder. However, the Islamic Penal Code (IPC) does not specifically criminalize ‘honor’ crimes.”
Husbands were recorded as the perpetrators in most honor killings, followed by fathers, then brothers and other male relatives. The briefing described how women were also forced into dying by suicide.
Lawyers who have represented women in Iran subjected to violence by their husbands and male relatives, have reported difficulty in securing justice for the victims.
“The law in Iran does not protect women who have been subjected to violence. I had criminal cases in Iran where the husbands attacked the women and so we opened cases in court, but the judges sided with the husbands,” exiled Iranian lawyer Forough Sheikholeslami Vatani, told Kayhan Life. “Sometimes we were successful, but those instances were very rare. That is because the laws in Iran’s civil and criminal courts are deeply problematic as they are stuck in the past.”
By contrast, women and girls accused of killing abusive partners are often sentenced to death by Iran’s courts and asked to pay vast sums in the name of blood money to the family of the deceased husband, which they are unable to raise.
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Goli Kouhkan, a child bride accused of killing her husband when she was 18 following years of physical violence, was sentenced to death in May 2018. Kouhkan was forcibly married to her cousin when she was 12, and gave birth to a son without medical assistance one year later, according to an Oct. 6 report by Iran Human Rights (IHR). She was forced to do heavy physical work on her husband’s farm while pregnant and was subjected to regular physical violence by her husband, who prevented her from having contact with her family.
“Every attempt to leave had been unsuccessful due to both her undocumented status and societal factors. Once, when she escaped to her parent’s home, her father told her: ‘I gave my daughter away in a white dress, you will return in a shroud,’” a source familiar with the matter told IHR. “The source continued: ‘On the day of the murder, her husband had been beating both Goli and their young son. Desperate and helpless, she called his cousin for help. When he arrived, a fight broke out which ended with her husband being unintentionally killed. Goli called for an ambulance and told the authorities everything. They were both arrested.’”
Vatani worked as a human rights lawyer in Iran, but fled the country after she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for defending the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ gender equality movement on social media, as part of her work. She now lives in France, where she continues to work with international human rights organizations, including the Germany-based Stop Honor Killings which produces research on violence against women and girls in Iran.
A January 2025 report published by Stop Honor Killings estimated that 51 murders took place in 2024, with the average age of the victim being 32.
“Triggers for such murders may include refusing an arranged marriage, engaging in a romantic relationship disapproved by the family, seeking a divorce, choosing a career, traveling without permission, or even becoming a victim of sexual assault,” the report said. “Many such killings are based on mere suspicion, with no evidence to justify the accusations.”
