On Sunday, February 2, 2025, a 30-year-old woman named Fatemeh Badali was killed
in Kordkuy, Golestan province, by her husband Mehdi Chapelya using an axe and
bricks, striking her in the head in front of their two children.
According to Asr Iran, Fatemeh had decided to divorce her husband due to his drug
addiction and ongoing domestic problems. She had returned to her parents’ home
sometime prior.
On the day of the incident, she went back to the family home to collect her personal
belongings, when an altercation occurred and her husband killed her.
A source close to the family stated that Fatemeh was a hardworking and patient woman
who worked in rice fields to feed her children, while her husband Mehdi was jealous and
verbally abusive. After committing the killing, the perpetrator fled the scene and, at the
time of this report, has not been detained.
This tragedy in Kordkuy once again highlights the deep social and cultural challenges
surrounding women’s rights in Iran. Fatemeh Badali’s murder—after she sought to
escape a life filled with violence and addiction by filing for divorce—is another example
of an “honor”-based killing rooted in the perception of women as property. This is not an
isolated incident; in many similar cases, women are killed simply for seeking a divorce.
In this case, not only was a woman’s life taken, but two innocent children were left to
carry the lifelong trauma of witnessing their mother’s brutal murder.
It reflects a culture where some men feel an extreme sense of ownership and control
over their wives, responding to disobedience not with dialogue or support but with
violence and killing.
Tragically, such killings are not rare. In certain cultural contexts, a woman’s request for
divorce is perceived as an insult to male honor, often leading to threats, violence, or
even death. Cases like the killing of Ayla Pasdar and others in towns and rural areas
across the country reveal a deeply rooted, damaging attitude toward
women—especially around the subject of divorce, which remains taboo in many parts of
society.
One major reason for the increase in such violence is the lack of systemic protection for
women facing threats from their families or communities. The absence of safe houses
and protective laws enables the continued killing of women. Unless this reality changes,
and unless society and authorities take meaningful action to protect women from
domestic violence, more murders will follow, and men will continue to believe they have
the right to control—or even end—the lives of women.

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