The key facts

  • Maryam Yarmohammadi, 28, mother of two, was killed on October 5 by her brother and husband on Qeshm Island; both were arrested
  • According to a 2020 study by Iran's Police Academy, 'honor killings' account for up to 45% of all murders in some conservative provinces
  • The UN Special Rapporteur reported in March 2025 at least 179 femicides within the family circle in 2024

Murder on Qeshm Island

In the early hours of October 5, 28-year-old Maryam Yarmohammadi, a mother of two, was attacked with knives by her brother and husband on Qeshm Island in southern Iran. Her genitals were mutilated. She died shortly afterwards in hospital. The husband and brother were arrested. According to media reports, about 50 relatives gathered outside the hospital in protest against the arrests, believing that death was the 'least severe punishment' Yarmohammadi deserved. What the relatives accused the woman of was not publicly reported, but the circumstances and extreme cruelty of the murder correspond to the typical scenario of so-called 'honor killings,' when a man considers it his duty to 'erase' an alleged disgrace supposedly brought upon the family by a sister, daughter, or wife.

Lack of support and legal gaps

Activists have spent years trying to create nationwide support networks for women under threat, including the 'End Honor Killings' campaign. Its spokesperson Rezvan Moghaddam told DW that there apparently were no activists or groups in the region able to help Yarmohammadi, but stressed that her death should not be seen as a reproach to activists: 'I myself come from Khuzestan in southern Iran and know well the restrictions that exist there.' The campaign has sometimes managed to smuggle women under threat to safe places through civil networks. According to DW, Iranian laws, based on interpretations of sharia, do not recognize women as equal citizens in many areas: decisions about education, work, or travel may require the consent of a father or husband. Even after a woman's death, male relatives can influence the course of a criminal case: in murder cases, the victim's relatives choose either retribution (up to the death penalty) or forgiveness. When the suspected perpetrator is himself among such relatives, a serious conflict of interest arises, exposing, in the view of critics, gaps in the protection of women.

Scale of the problem

According to a 2020 study by Iran's Police Academy, 'honor killings' — murders of women by fathers, brothers, or uncles for allegedly violating norms of modesty and family honor — accounted for up to 45% of all murders in some traditionally conservative provinces in the west and south of the country. In March 2025, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran reported that in 2024 at least 179 women were killed by men from their family circle; these cases were recorded as femicides.

Public reaction and expert assessments

The cruelty of the murder sparked a wave of grief and outrage on social media. Many women saw what happened as a femicide committed out of hatred in the name of 'honor' and 'shame.' At the same time, many comments amounted to victim-blaming: the murder was called a 'punishment for an unfaithful woman' or justified by 'understanding men's anger.' Psychoanalyst Saba Aalekh noted that men are socialized with the belief that they are responsible for controlling women, and male identity is tied to a woman's 'obedience'; violence becomes normalized when beliefs, public approval, and silence reinforce one another. 'When cultural, social, political, economic, legal, and educational factors are closely intertwined, they acquire enormous power,' she said. 'Under such conditions, women are highly economically dependent and lack sufficient social support. Preventive mechanisms are absent. All of this increases the risk of violence.'

The struggle for self-determination

Sociologist and human rights activist Atefeh Rangriz told DW: 'Femicides have always existed, and their political manifestations can be traced throughout history — from the forced removal of the hijab [under Reza Shah Pahlavi in the 1930s] to the slogan of the Islamic Republic: either the headscarf or a blow to the head.' According to her, women have made significant progress in recent decades: they have driven cars since 1940, voted and run for office since 1963, make up half of university graduates, and the number of divorces initiated by women is growing. The 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement, which arose after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022, changed public perceptions of women; many Iranian women no longer wear the mandatory hijab in public places. 'Women have learned to focus on the present rather than postpone justice for the future. They demand it now,' Rangriz said. 'They want to control their own bodies, live as they choose, and free themselves from structures of domination, oppression, and exploitation. It is a kind of radical revolution.' What Maryam Yarmohammadi herself wanted and how she wanted to live remains unknown — she was brutally murdered.