Two more young women in Iran have lost their lives this last week, killed by family members. These so-called honor killings are done with impunity because the regime fails to sanction them in law.
The first case was of a 22-year-old woman, Reyhaneh Ameri. She lived with her family, but last Sunday did not return until late. It appears she argued with her father after arriving back home at around 11.30 p.m. At some point between the time she arrived back and 8.30 in the morning, she was attacked and killed by her father with an ax.
The so-called “Islamic” Republic regime has ruled #Iran for 40 years with its deviated, backward interpretation of Islam. From outset of its rule, regime was founded on subjugation, exclusion and humiliation of Iranian women.https://t.co/kd9SfWpepx pic.twitter.com/F15ZjlPTjU
— NCRI Women’s Committee (@womenncri) June 9, 2020
The first her sister knew about it was when she arrived at the house between 8 and 8.30 that morning. She found no-one at home at first, but then her father appeared. He disappeared into his bedroom, then left the house in a hurry after changing his shirt.
When her mother turned up soon after, she initially claimed that Ameri was still in her bedroom, but then admitted that there had been an argument the evening before. When the two women opened Ameri’s bedroom door, they found it was in chaos with blood all over the place. They phoned the police and when they had had a look at the scene suggested that Ameri’s father had killed her with an ax and taken her body away.
The police traced Ameri’s phone to a village and then arrested her father after finding quantities of blood in his car boot. Initially, he denied knowing anything about his daughter, but then said he had hit her on the head with an ax and then dumped her body.
When the police arrived at where Ameri had been left, they discovered that she had only died two hours previously. If they had known about the attack beforehand, they may have been able to save her life.
#Iran under the mullahs rule where #ForcedMarriages r legal
Fatemeh Barahi, 19, was beheaded by her husband who she was forced to marry in the southwestern city of Abadan on Sunday night, June 14, 2020. https://t.co/kaTvvGYr25— NCRI Women’s Committee (@womenncri) June 17, 2020
This was not the first violent incident in which Ameri’s father had taken out his exasperation on his daughter. Three years ago, he told his wife that he would kill his daughter one day and tried to do just that, but was stopped by his other daughter in the nick of time.
The second horrific attack took place in Ibadan. 19-year-old Fatemeh Barihi was beheaded by her husband. She had been trying to leave him after two years into a forced marriage with him. The 23-year-old husband was an abusive cousin who went to the Ibadan police station to confess what he had done, bringing with him the knife he used.
Barihi’s aunt had also been killed in an honor killing by her husband and her brothers. Barihi had filed for divorce from her husband because he was a drug addict.
It is unlikely with the current laws in Iran that ether killer will face the consequences of what they have done. Honor killing is tolerated in Iran because of the misogyny of the regime.
These examples may be just the tip of the iceberg as not every honor killing comes to light. Only three weeks ago, a teenage girl, Romina Ashrafi, was beheaded in her sleep by her father with a sickle. The killing had taken place after the girl had been returned to her family home by police, despite her fear that she would be violently attacked by her father in retribution for running away with a 34-year-old boyfriend.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI: Misogyny and degrading women’s status – Among the other clear and predominant common features of fundamentalists is their misogyny. This is the implementation of inequality and violence against women, depriving them of their basic freedoms and rights, barring them from management and leadership roles in sociopolitical institutions, and considering them as second-class citizens, all of which occur by using Islam as the excuse.
The (PMOI / MEK Iran) and the NCRI aim to end this reign of terror and bring Iran to the 21st century. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, has a ten-point plan for Iran’s democratic future that will end compulsory veiling, guarantee equal rights and protection under the law for women and religious and ethnic minorities, and establish a secular democracy where everyone can live free from tyranny.
