Rezvan Moghaddam: On Sunday, June 8, 2025, the Pishva police commander announced the discovery of a
young woman’s body and the arrest of her killer. In reports published by outlets like
ISNA, no mention was made of her name, age, nationality, or the motive behind the
killing. The victim was only referred to by a vague, sanitized phrase: “a young woman.”
But now, independent sources have confirmed her identity: the young woman was
Kobra Rezaei, also known as Shaqayeq, a 26-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan
who had gone missing 50 days earlier.
Kobra was one of thousands of Afghan migrant women in Iran—women who live under
the shadows of legal discrimination, daily violence, and systemic silencing. Her
mutilated body was found nearly two months later in Tehran, but still, no motive has
been disclosed, the killer’s identity remains hidden, and no state institution has taken
responsibility for protecting her life.
Initially, the event was reduced to a brief police report announcing the arrest of the killer
through intelligence operations. But the real story—who was killed, why, and how—was
effectively erased from public record. Now that Kobra’s identity has been revealed, the
silences in the official narrative appear even more horrific.

The Stop Honor Killings Campaign declares:
 This killing was not an ordinary “criminal incident”; it was femicide.
 Erasing the victim’s name and identity from the news is a form of state and media
violence.
 The victim was a defenseless asylum-seeking woman, and her killing must be
seen as a symbol of migrant women’s powerlessness in Iran’s judicial system.
 We demand accountability from official institutions, the public naming of the
perpetrator, investigation of the motive, and full legal transparency in this case.

The drip-feed of news around Kobra Rezaei’s (Shaqayeq’s) case delays justice, denies the public
the awareness needed for prevention and accountability, and erases the victim from collective
memory. This incomplete and censored narrative enables the repetition of violence, allows

institutions to evade responsibility, and silences the pain of the victim’s family, the migrant
community, and women’s rights advocates.

#StopHonorKillingsCampaign

#SafetyForWomen

#PishvaGirl

#KobraRezaei #Shaqayeq

#GenderBasedViolence

#NoToFemicide

#JusticeForWomen

#NoToHonorKillings

#ThisIsNotAFamilyDisputeThisIsFemicide

#NoToCensorship

#SayHerName

#StopHonorKillings

#Femicide

#VoiceOfVictims

#WomenHaveTheRightToLive

#NoToViolenceAgainstWomen

#IslamicRepublicIsResponsibleForWomensKillings

#NoToMisogynisticCulture

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