On December 25, 2024, 27-year-old Ghazaleh Hodoudi was set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal. She later died at a hospital in northwestern Iran succumbing to her injuries. The brutal murder occurred at her workplace in a tailoring shop where Ghazaleh raised her 11-year-old daughter.
This senseless tragedy is an "all too common" problem in Iran known as femicide which is skyrocketing because of the lack of legal protection for women against domestic violence. While the government oppresses women daily because of the unjust Hijab Laws, women also suffer greatly from their fathers or husbands for seeking a divorce or fleeing from an abusive marriage. The government should protect its citizens from violence but refuses to take practical measures to address the "femicide" crisis that is affecting women of Iran.
Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director for Human Rights in Iran, explains the horrific situation in Iran is escalating because of the failure of laws and policies in place to protect women.
"Women in Iran are being shot, stabbed, and burned to death by husbands and fathers in shocking numbers, but the government does not take even the most basic measures to try to prevent these crimes and the Iranian judicial system lets these cases go with little or sometimes even no punishment."
Another prime example of the horrific crimes against women described by Hadi Ghaemi is the violent death of Fatemeh Amiri, a victim of child marriage, who had endured more than twelve years of abuse by her husband. Her body was found wrapped in blankets and a rug and stuffed into a closet on the outskirts of the city of Tehran. She had been beaten and stabbed to death because her husband was an addict and couldn't control his temper.
According to "Stop Femicide in Iran" (SFI) there were 93 known acts of femicide in Iran in just the first half of 2024, a shocking 60 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The statistics average out to about one murder every other day. Husbands or ex-husbands engaged in stabbing, immolations, suffocation, strangling, shooting, beatings, poisoning, and running over women with their cars, as the primary methods for ending their lives. The majority of the victims were under 30 and children frequently witnessed their violent deaths. Women were killed for requesting a divorce, rejecting marriage proposals, and ten percent of the cases were young girls who were the direct victims of femicide.
Saeid Dehghan, a prominent human rights lawyer who has defended numerous individuals in the courts of the Islamic Republic, laments the main cause of this femicide epidemic.
"In the overwhelming majority of such cases, whether involving murder or other forms of violence against women, the real weapon is the existing laws of the Islamic Republic. These laws are rooted in religious doctrine and medieval perspectives, enabling men in Iran-within families and in positions of power in the government-to perpetuate such atrocities."
The Islamic Penal Code empowers men to commit these awful crimes. The law states that if a man sees his wife committing adultery with a man, and he knows that she consented to it, he is allowed to kill both of them. In a nutshell, this kind of honor killing is not punishable, and judges willingly consent to it with the motive to preserve honor in the family. In retrospect, a woman could never walk free after killing her adulterous husband and could be executed!
The laws are extremely biased against women and favorable to men. In the case of an abusive relationship where a woman's safety is greatly compromised, the Civil Code forbids them from leaving a matrimonial home without the husband's permission, unless she is able and willing to go to court to prove that her life is endangered. This unjust law leaves a woman in a dangerous and violent situation with the stipulation that if she leaves, she will forfeit her right to financial maintenance. Once again the patriarchal system has imprisoned women against their will and they end up remaining in a highly volatile and abusive situation.
In Iran, an endangered woman has no place to go for help or protection. The judges consistently admonish them to return and obey their abusive husbands. Shelters and safe houses throughout the cities in Iran have all been closed. The biggest roadblock against women lies in the teaching of the Quran that their testimony is only worth half that of a man's. Also they are under immense pressure to meet the burden of proof in court when reporting domestic abuse and oftentimes return back home fearing the penalties they would endure for leaving.
The oppression and discrimination against women in Iran is a topic that I am very passionate about. For more than 13 years, I have written articles and published books in defense of women in the Middle East, especially in Iran. The only hope for these women is the removal of the dictatorship government. Reform is impossible. The Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention of abridging its laws in order to protect women. Their religious system blinds them to the truth of their hypocrisy and prevents them from seeing the true value and worth of a woman.
In Contrast to the government's commitment to Islamic beliefs, the Bible paints a beautiful portrait of women. Proverbs 31 exalts the character of a woman declaring that a "wife of noble character is worth far more than rubies, (verses 10-11) that she clothed with strength and dignity (Verse 25), and speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction (Verse 26)
Jesus demonstrated true compassion and mercy to first-century women, lifting them out of the gutters of discrimination and restoring their true dignity and worth to them.
Psalm 9:9 declares, "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble."
The women in Iran can find hope and healing, a real shelter for protection from abuse when they cry out to Jesus. He is a true refuge for the oppressed. The Word of God commands me to be their voice and not be silent or indifferent to their hopeless situations.
Proverbs 31:8 is my life verse when being a voice for Iranian women:
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed."
It is my calling and passion to be their voice, to pray for them, and to bring international awareness to their desperate plight. I will never stop speaking up until the day comes when they can celebrate in the streets under a new government of democracy and freedom!
