Iran: Wives Who Kill or Victims of Violence?
Prague, 19 August, Free Eurasia. Statistics on death sentences handed down to women in Iran, published by Iranian human rights defenders, reveal one of the country’s growing social problems: the rise in the number of women killing their husbands after years of domestic abuse.
According to the human rights organization Iran Human Rights, in 2024 alone at least 31 women were executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran — the highest number in the past 17 years. Of these, 19 were executed under qisas (“retribution” for murder), and 9 were executed specifically for killing their husbands in the context of domestic violence. Many of them had been convicted while still teenagers.
These statistics expose several interlinked issues. They point not only to the cruelty of the punishment system, but also to the deeper discrimination faced by women who suffer domestic violence and receive no protection from the justice system. On the contrary, Iran’s judicial system, based on Sharia law, often places an equal sign between victim and perpetrator.
The majority of executed women were sentenced under qisas, most often for killing their husbands. In the overwhelming number of cases, these were situations involving forced or “child” marriages and years of domestic abuse. The fact that such cases end in execution shows that Iran’s judiciary almost never considers circumstances of self-defense or long-term abuse.
Human rights defenders stress that the burden on women is effectively twice as heavy as on men. While one might expect greater leniency toward women, in practice the opposite is true: in cases of husbands being killed, the victim’s family almost never accepts forgiveness or blood money (diyya), and nearly always insists on execution “to restore honor.”
In Iran, the financial compensation (diyya) for a woman is traditionally valued at half that of a man. This makes women’s position even more vulnerable: if a convicted woman must pay compensation to the victim’s family, the amount is often unaffordable. The result is execution.
The rise in women’s executions demonstrates that the state does not recognize the social context of these crimes. Women who were themselves victims of systematic violence, forced marriages, or who acted in self-defense, are denied the right to a fair trial.
For example, according to Iran Human Rights, in February 2025 a 45-year-old woman named Bagherinejad was executed in Shiraz prison under qisas. She had been convicted of killing her husband five years earlier. Her case was never mentioned in official Iranian media, but was confirmed by human rights groups.
Bagherinejad was charged with “intentional murder” — an accusation that is not differentiated by degree (such as premeditated, negligent, or self-defense) because Iranian law makes no such distinctions. Her punishment was determined under qisas — “retribution in kind.” Execution is mandated if the victim’s family refuses financial compensation (diyya) or forgiveness.
On March 1, 2025, 29-year-old Nasrin Barani was executed in Isfahan Central Prison for killing her ex-husband, who had continued to stalk and harass her after their divorce. Nasrin had been arrested about four years earlier, around 2021. She had lived with her first husband for six years before divorcing and remarrying. Despite her new marriage, her ex-husband continued to pursue and harass her. According to some reports, she had married him at the age of just 15.
According to Iran Human Rights, in recent years every third — or even every second — woman executed in Iran was convicted of killing her husband. One of the most widely known cases was that of Samira Sabzian, executed in 2023.
Yet the fate of women like Samira ultimately depends on the decision of the victim’s family. When the victim is a man, his relatives in most cases demand the wife’s execution, believing it restores the family’s “honor.” Forgiveness in such cases is extremely rare.
Legal discrimination only deepens the injustice. In Iranian courts, a woman’s testimony is worth only half that of a man’s, which makes it nearly impossible to prove circumstances of abuse or self-defense. Judges rarely take into account evidence of systematic violence or psychological pressure, especially if the victim’s family insists on execution.
Thus, the institution of qisas, originally conceived as a principle of fair retribution, in practice has become a mechanism of inequality.
Most of the women executed under this law are not dangerous criminals but victims of circumstance: of domestic violence, child marriage, poverty, and discrimination. The decision over whether they live or die is ultimately determined not by justice, but by prejudice and arbitrariness.
Women sentenced to death in Iran for killing their husbands or partners had often desperately sought justice or protection from society and the legal system long before the crime. Yet finding no way out of violent relationships, they saw killing their husbands as the only escape.
Islam Tekushev. Free Eurasia/
