NewsCenter – The steady increase in domestic crimes and the killing of women and children in Iran, before being caused by individual disturbances, is the result of a deep vacuum in protective laws, the absence of social security, and the failure to criminalize forms of domestic violence.

The absence of safe shelter centers, the failure to take firm judicial measures against threats by partners or former husbands, and the justification of violence under the names of "honor crimes," have allowed perpetrators the space to turn homes and workplaces into slaughterhouses for women and children.

According to statistics recorded in human rights reports, during the period between 24 August and 23 September, no less than 12 women and 3 children were killed, two women committed suicide as a result of pressures caused by violence, and the death penalty was also carried out against 4 women in Iranian prisons.

On 24 August, Banafsheh Heydari, a mother of three children, 40 years old, from the city of Bukan, died after committing suicide as a result of her repeated exposure to domestic violence.

On 25 August, a man in the city of Mashhad killed his 61-year-old wife. Zahra Azizpour, 43 years old, from the city of Ardabil, was also executed in Rasht Prison.

On 28 August, Hana Rakan, 16 years old, was killed by her father in the Dolatabad neighborhood. On the same day, in the "Torg" area of Mashhad, "Zahra R.," 23 years old, and her two children, Yassin (one year old) and Radvin (two and a half years old), were killed by her husband.

On 4 September, Niloufar Mojawar, 27 years old, died after being subjected to severe torture and rape by a 41-year-old man.

On 6 September, a 27-year-old woman was killed by her husband in Abadeh County. On the same day, Fatemeh Jahankard, 40 years old, was executed in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad.

On 7 September, Fatemeh Sadat Tabatabai was killed by her husband and her father-in-law in Bam County.

On 10 September, a woman was killed by her husband in Tehran by poisoning her.

On 11 September, a 75-year-old woman was killed by her son in eastern Tehran.

On 12 September, Sa'ada Shano'i, a 27-year-old mother from the village of "Mulla Issa" (near Oshnavieh), died after her body was set on fire (self-immolation) due to domestic violence.

On 14 September, Zeinab Rajabi, 46 years old and a mother of three children, was executed in Isfahan Prison, and Rezvan Asgharzadeh (about 45 years old) was also executed in Isfahan Central Prison.

On 17 September, Suheila Mahmoudi (45 years old), from the village of Mehrgan in Ravansar, was killed by one of her brothers. The bodies of five members of one family — a mother, two daughters, and two sons — were also found in a well in Tehran; the family had been missing for about a year.

On 22 September, a young woman was killed by her ex-husband at her workplace in the city of Karaj.

It should be noted that some cases of killing and torture announced during the past month had occurred during previous months or in the past year, as news related to these incidents was delayed due to censorship or the length of judicial procedures, such as the killing of Azita Rahmat Zehi by her husband in the city of Chabahar.

The body of Athena Ghasemi, a 14-year-old girl from the city of Karaj who had been missing since 16 August, was also found in the forensic medicine center after a month; it was found that she had been tortured, her hair was cut, and she fell from the fifth floor before her death.

The criminal court in the province concluded a trial related to the killing of a woman named "Maria" and her two children (aged five and two and a half), a crime that occurred a year and a half ago, where news of this case was published during the past month.