By: Rezvan Moghaddam

On Wednesday, May 2, 2025, in one of the streets of Sabzevar, Fatemeh Barkhordari, a
schoolteacher and mother of three, was brutally killed by her husband in broad daylight.
As she stepped out of a car alongside a friend, she was suddenly attacked from behind
by her husband, who assaulted her with a machete, stabbing her repeatedly in public
view.
Local sources confirmed that the attacker is also an employee of the Ministry of
Education. The killing, carried out with blatant violence in public, occurred despite
repeated warnings from Fatemeh herself.
She had previously reported her husband’s threats and violent behavior to the Ministry
of Education and other relevant institutions, submitting official letters. Yet no preventive
or protective action was ever taken. At the time of her killing, she had been living
separately from her husband and had recently filed for divorce, a decision that in many
cases becomes a trigger for honor-based or retaliatory violence by men.
Fatemeh Barkhordari’s killing is a striking example of domestic violence and honor-
based killings in Iran, carried out under the shadow of state inaction. The disregard for
women’s formal warnings, the absence of support mechanisms, and the lack of effective
laws to protect women from life-threatening abuse are central to the repeated
occurrence of such tragedies. This killing not only took the life of a teacher but also
deeply damaged the credibility of the educational system itself. Authorities, especially
the Ministry of Education and the judiciary, must be held accountable and act
proactively to prevent such crimes from repeating.
Fatemeh’s case is yet another grim reminder that in Iran, women’s repeated pleas for
help in the face of domestic violence are too often ignored. This negligence leads to
public killings, as seen here. The horror of this crime did not just claim a woman’s life—it
struck at the heart of social safety and the very institution of education.
In many patriarchal societies, including Iran, divorce, particularly when initiated by
women, is not seen as a legal or human right but rather as a form of disobedience or
disgrace. This mindset, rooted in deeply patriarchal cultural structures, treats women
not as autonomous individuals but as the property of men. As a result, when a woman
files for divorce, some men perceive it as a threat to their pride and “honor,” as if her
departure publicly undermines their status.
Killings that follow divorce requests, leaving home, or acts of female autonomy now
constitute a major portion of honor-based killings. Unlike in the past, when such crimes

were often framed around allegations of extramarital relations, today a woman needs
only attempt to choose her own path in life, to be at risk. Fatemeh Barkhordari’s killing,
like others triggered by divorce requests, it fits exactly within this framework: she sought
to escape violence and claim independence, but her husband saw her act not as a
right, but as a dishonor, and killed her for it.
In today’s world, honor killings have increasingly become a tool to suppress women’s
independence and freedom, especially when they seek to break free from violence. This
violence often begins inside the home and is enabled by the silence and inaction of
legal institutions, ending in killing.

StopHonorKillingsCampaign

SafetyForWomen

WomenHaveTheRightToLive

NoToViolenceAgainstWomen

IslamicRepublicIsResponsibleForWomenKillings

FatemehBarkhordari

Sabzevar_Khorasan

NoToMisogynisticCulture

Follow news in the Stop honor Killings Campaign Telegram group:
https://t.me/stophonorkilling
Support the Stop Honor Killings Campaign with Your Donations via PayPal:
https://paypal.me/stophonorkillings?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Stop honor Killings Campaign