In one of the latest cases of “femicide” in Iran, a 17-year-old girl named Mobina Zainivand was shot and killed by her father in Darreh Shahr County, Ilam Province.
The Hengaw website reported on Tuesday, August 27, that Mobina Zainivand, a 17-year-old girl from Darreh Shahr in Ilam Province, was “killed by her father.”
According to Hengaw, citing an informed source, Rahim, Mobina’s 56-year-old father, killed the teenage girl at home on Monday, August 26, due to suspicions of her having a “relationship with a teenage boy.”
The report states that “Mobina’s father, due to family disputes” with the boy’s family, “wanted to end their relationship” and “killed his daughter for this reason.”
Under the Iranian regime’s law, if the father is the perpetrator, he is practically immune from punishment, citing the “right of blood” as the “guardian of blood” under the regime’s laws. In cases of spousal or femicide, the regime’s penal code provides loopholes that allow the perpetrator to claim immunity under pretexts like “honor” or suspicion of “illicit relationships.”
According to Iranian penal law, the punishment for “homicide” is “retribution” (Qisas). However, under Article 630 of the regime’s penal code, “If a man catches his wife in the act of adultery with a stranger and is certain of her consent, he can kill them both at that moment. If the woman is coerced, he can only kill the man.”
Civil activists and human rights defenders have protested against discrimination against women in Iran’s laws for decades. International organizations and the United Nations have repeatedly called on the Iranian regime to abolish discriminatory laws, a demand that has gone unanswered for four decades.
In the first half of this year, femicide in Iran increased by 60% compared to the same period last year.
