Patriarchy takes a life: the killing of Nasibeh Tafakkori in Zahedan by her father’s Gunfire

On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Nasibeh Tafakkori, a 20-year-old woman and mother of a
young child, was killed in her family home on Old Zahedan Road by her father’s direct
gunfire. The killing followed a dispute between Nasibeh and her father over her return to
her husband’s house.
According to local sources, at the age of 18, Nasibeh had been forced into marriage
with her cousin, from which a one-year-old child was born. After repeated quarrels with
her husband, she had returned to her father’s home. Although her father-in-law came to
mediate and Nasibeh herself expressed willingness to return, her father’s opposition
escalated into tension. Around 3 p.m., while Nasibeh was resting in her room, her father
shot and killed her, then fled the scene with the weapon.
Nasibeh, who did not even own a personal cell phone and lived under constant
restrictions and pressures, became the victim of a mindset that considers women the
“property” of their male relatives. In Zahedan’s social fabric, a woman’s divorce or return
to her father’s house is seen as a “disgrace” for the men of the family, an idea that adds
immense pressure on women and, in many cases, leads to deadly violence.
The killing of Nasibeh Tafakkori is a stark example of so-called “honor killings,” rooted in
men’s sense of ownership over women. Within this framework, “love” is distorted into
“possession,” and any independent choice by a woman is perceived as a threat to male
honor and authority. This patriarchal lens strips women of individuality and decision-
making power, reducing them to tools for preserving male dignity.
As long as discriminatory laws and patriarchal culture continue to justify such crimes,
and no deterrent punishment exists for perpetrators, the cycle of honor killings will
persist. Meanwhile, Nasibeh’s one-year-old child is left as another silent victim,
motherless, vulnerable, and facing a future marked by deep psychological and social
wounds.

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