Annual data from Iranian rights groups reveal at least 110 femicides, 63 rapes, 180 “honor killings” and expanding structural, legal and state violence against women across all 31 provinces.
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the group Human Rights Activists in Iran published its annual report. The report documents 110 femicides, 63 cases of rape, 9 acid attacks, and dozens of instances of structural and judicial violence against women over the past year.
In a separate statement, the Campaign to Stop “Honor Killings” warned that the misogynistic laws of the Islamic Republic, including Article 630 of the Islamic Penal Code, directly enable the killing of women. According to the campaign, more than 180 “honor killings” were recorded in 1403 (March 2024–March 2025) alone.
25 November in Iran
25 November commemorates the horrific murder of three sisters – Patria, Maria, and Antonia Mirabal – in 1960 in the Dominican Republic, killed for their struggle against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. In 1999, the United Nations designated this day as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In the same spirit, the global campaign “Orange the World” begins every year on 25 November and continues until 10 December, International Human Rights Day.
In Iran, however, violence against women has not diminished. Each year, it takes on new forms, while “traditional” forms of violence reappear with renewed intensity. Femicide has become a daily headline, and its numbers are rising. So-called “honor killings” continue to claim the lives of women who are seen as transgressing traditional, family, or tribal codes – or even women who silently carry the heavy burden of gendered violence.
In Iran, data on gender-based violence are concealed. This concealment serves to cover up the key forces that sustain such violence: a patriarchal Islamic Republic, deeply rooted male dominance, and the dominant forms of masculinity in society.
Despite this, global statistics show that at least one in three women has experienced or will experience violence. Under these harsh conditions, countless women in Iran resist daily against social violence and unjust laws; for them, surrender is not an option. Yet many women have been crushed by this violence – women whom the regime’s restrictive laws have deprived of basic rights such as education, employment, free choice of life, freedom of dress, and even ownership of their own bodies. The struggle to claim women’s rights in Iran continues with force.
At the same time as 25 November, Human Rights Activists in Iran released its latest statistical report on the scale of violence against women in the country. Based on 181 documented and non-duplicate cases, the report offers a minimal yet precise picture of domestic, sexual, structural, and judicial violence against women over the past year.
According to the report, 110 women were killed during the one-year period. Ninety-three instances of the most severe forms of violence were recorded, including 63 cases of rape and sexual assault, 9 acid attacks, 11 assaults, 9 cases of domestic violence, one case of self-immolation, and one suicide linked to gender-based violence. HERA stresses that many of these categories overlap and that the figures cited represent only the minimum number of cases that could be verified.
Distribution of Direct and Lethal Violence Against Women (November 2024 – November 2025)
The report further shows that a significant part of violence against women in Iran is reproduced within judicial, security, and administrative structures.
Over the past year, there has been an increase in the summoning, arrest, and interrogation of women activists. Recorded cases such as the arrest of Narges Hosseini and repeated summonses by intelligence agencies illustrate how security institutions are focused on controlling women’s bodies and clothing.
According to the data:
• 4 women were summoned to court
• 11 women were summoned to intelligence offices
• 7 women were interrogated
• 1 woman was detained without a judicial warrant
In addition, 27 women faced judicial and security prosecution for what is labelled “improper hijab”, and 10 venues or institutions linked to women’s activities were sealed or shut down.
Spectrum of Structural and State Violence Against Women (Arrests, Prosecutions, and Summonses)
In the judicial sphere, courts have, over the past year, handed down at least 49 months of discretionary imprisonment (ta’zir) at first instance, 31 months of prison on appeal, 178 lashes, and 7 million tomans in fines against women. According to the report, these punishments illustrate the role of the judiciary in reinforcing the cycle of violence against women.
The data also show that violence against women is spread across all 31 provinces. Tehran, with at least 50 documented cases, stands at the top, followed by Razavi Khorasan, Fars, West Azerbaijan, and Kermanshah. This geographical spread confirms that violence against women in Iran is a nationwide and structural problem.
Monthly trends in the data indicate an increase in cases of violence in Dey and Bahman 1403 and in the spring and summer of 1404 – periods that coincided with heightened social and security pressure. HERA notes that a significant share of this information was obtained even from official domestic sources, which in itself points to the intensity of violence and the decreasing possibility of fully censoring it.
In its conclusion, the report stresses that these 181 documented cases represent only a minimum fraction of the overall violence against women in Iran – violence perpetrated both in the private sphere (home and family) and within the structures of power (judicial and security systems). HERA reminds readers that these data must be seen within the broader framework of gender-based violence as a systematic violation of women’s fundamental rights, and calls on the international community to demand accountability and justice in line with international human rights standards.
Campaign to Stop “Honor Killings”: Combating Violence Against Women Is a Collective Responsibility
Also on 25 November, the Campaign to Stop “Honor Killings” issued a new statement warning about the expansion of gender-based and structural violence against women in Iran. The campaign argues that violence against women under the Islamic Republic is “part of the logic of regime survival and a mechanism of power control”. Over the past four decades, it says, a web of laws, official institutions, and cultural structures has been built to entrench this cycle of violence.
The statement stresses that discriminatory laws – especially Article 630 of the Islamic Penal Code, which allows a man, under certain circumstances, to kill his wife “without punishment” – directly legalize and legitimize the killing of women. The campaign identifies this article as one of the core roots of violence and a source of “judicial impunity” for perpetrators of so-called “honor killings”.
According to data released by the campaign, more than 180 “honor killings” were recorded in the single year 1403. The statement emphasizes that this figure reflects only traceable cases. At the same time, many perpetrators of such murders receive lenient sentences or are pardoned, while women who act in self-defense or seek to escape violent relationships face harsh punishments, including the death penalty.
The campaign also highlights “state violence” against women and describes executions as “the most naked form of this violence”. The statement says Iran has the highest rate of execution of women in the world, and that death sentences handed down to justice-seeking activists such as Verisheh Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi, and Zahra Shahbazi demonstrate that, in the eyes of the authorities, even defending life is treated as a “crime”.
Referring to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, the campaign describes it as a historic rupture with the patriarchal order of the Islamic Republic, and stresses that women’s struggle against structural violence has now reached a collective and historical level.
In conclusion, the Campaign to Stop “Honor Killings” declares that it will continue its work to abolish discriminatory laws, document violence, empower women, and expose the cycle of “honor killings”. It insists that achieving safety and justice for women is only possible through “organizing, raising awareness, and sustained social pressure”.
