By: Rezvan Moghaddam

As always, the news is short and repetitive: On Thursday, August 1, 2025, a woman in
Aligudarz was killed by her husband using a farming tool. This constant reduction in the
value of women’s lives passes through the media with disturbing ease—yet the killing of
a 72-year-old woman by her husband in Aligudarz is another painful example of chronic
domestic violence in Iran, manifesting in its most direct, physical, and brutal form.
According to reports, the perpetrator was arrested after the crime and confessed to
killing his wife with an agricultural weapon. However, a key issue in the coverage of this
tragedy is the recurring and dangerous narrative used by outlets such as Rokna, which
once again attributed the motive to a “family dispute”, without addressing the history of
violence, the gender of the victim, her advanced age and vulnerability, or even the role
(or absence) of protective institutions.
The phrase “family dispute” not only fails to explain the deeper causes and context of
such violence, but deliberately reduces the crime to a mere “argument” or
misunderstanding. This deliberate linguistic framing functions as a tool to normalize and
neutralize domestic violence. But the brutal killing of an elderly wife with a farming
implement cannot be dismissed as a trivial or spontaneous disagreement. It is far more
likely to be the outcome of systematic abuse, coercive control, and possibly years of
psychological and physical torment, culminating in lethal violence.
Such media coverage not only erases the dignity of the victim, but also detaches the
perpetrator from broader social accountability. Instead of investigating the role of legal
shortcomings, the lack of shelters for women, the absence of psychological and social
support services, or the deep structural inequalities within families, outlets like Rokna
retreat to an empty and evasive term.
In this context, reforming the language used in media and removing the normalization of
domestic violence is one of the most vital steps toward justice and prevention.

#StopHonorKillingsCampaign

#SafetyForWomen

#WomenHaveTheRightToLive

#NoToViolenceAgainstWomen

#IslamicRepublicResponsibleForFemicide

#Aligudarz

#NoToMisogynisticCulture

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