Murdered for no reason

Translated by Rouhi hafii

Killing women in Iran by male members of the family seems to be on the increase. Whatever the reason, economic, defending “honor” or simply family disputes which turn into rage and take women and children’s lives is a phenomenon that needs urgent attention.

Campaign to stop the honor-based murders is actively investigating such murders and their frequency. Reznan Moghadam, the Campaign’s speaker and researcher reports on the recent murder of two sisters in the city of Sanandaj in Kurdestan Iran by the husband of one of them and more murders. She also goes further to address the inadequacy of the law and offers suggestions to decrease and ultimately eliminate honor-based killings. Here are the two recent examples of honor-based murders:

1- Bayan Moradi’s husband, Esmail Ahmadi was for a period of time entangled in family disputes. Bayan married Esmail at the age of 19 and was 40 with 3 children ages 18,13 and 8. Bayan moved out of the family home with her three children and took her dispute to the court claiming that her husband was violent and abusive. On a tragic day, Bayan’s younger sister, Sahar (who was pregnant) went to her sister’s home for a visit. While the sisters were talking outside the house, Bayan’s husband arrived in a white car and attacked his wife. Sahar tried to intervene and cool down the situation but he shot her first with a gun he carried with him and then turned to his wife and shot her as well and ranaway.

According to some reports Bayan’s two sisters-in-law helped their murderer brother to escape and for that, they have been detained. The husband, Esmail who job was driving heavy goods vehicles had records of various violent deeds including selling drugs and carrying arms which is illegal. Previously, the court did not have enough proof to detain the man and now on the run, he is more dangerous than ever.

2- In July 2021, in Sadasht, a city in the west country, a woman, Homa Hajipour was in a car with her friend when her husband, Majid Bitooshi approached them and shot her with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Homan’s friend wasalso badly injured and later died in hospital. Majid Bitooshi inflicted injuries to himself and is in hospital at the moment.

Why are women victims of violence by family members?

Research shows that in the cases of violence against women in the family, the police and the courts do not give them due attention and that gives a green light to the perpetrators to murder women and girls with impunity. The murder of Roomina Ashrafi by her father in the province of Gilan (which promted this Campaign to set up) ; the horrific murder of Sargol Habibi in Sanandaj and the latest murder of Bayan Moradi demonstrate the reluctance of the police and the courts to take domestic violence seriously and prevent the murder of young women and girls by family members.

In Iran, the legal system and the courts do not have provisions to support women, and there are very limited safe houses for abused women to take refuge. Articles 612 and 630 in the penal codes give the green light to violence against women and ultimately their murder. These two articles reiterate the murder within the family as “a family affair” where men have the ultimate power. This is exactly where men take advantage and acts of violence take place under various guises.

The researcher, Rezvan Moghadam who is regisgtering the murder of women under “honor” killing believes that murders which are categorised as “family dispute” are a smoke screen to hide honor-based murders. How can a father of brother kill their 13[14 years old daughter or sister under “family dispute”?

A woman can be murdered if she files for divorce from an abusive husband. The husband sees himself as the owner of the woman’s body and for that he will not accept to give away his ownership easily which is an insult to him. Killing and mutating women by family members can take various forms. Women who are burnt and disfigured by acid are often victims of family disputes which has roots in the honor-based concept and the ownership of women. Until we have just laws based on gender equality and the proper education on the concept of rights of women to their body the murder of women will continue and the perptrators remain unpunished and will walk free from the crime they have committed.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *