Femicide: 17-year-old girl, brutally killed by father and brother in Shushtar

Hengaw: Friday, January 31, 2025

Atefeh Zeghibi, a seventeen-year-old victim of child marriage in Shushtar County, Khuzestan Province, was killed by her father and brother using a firearm while she was holding her infant. The motive behind the murder was Atefeh's escape with a young man and her subsequent marriage to him.

According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, in the early hours of Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Atefeh Zeghibi, a 17-year-old from the Shuaibiyah district of Shushtar County, was killed by her brother and father, who shot her sixteen times in front of her infant.

Atefeh Zeghibi's father and brother, disguised in military uniforms, entered the home of Atefeh and her husband. After her husband fled, suspecting an arrest by authorities, the perpetrators shot the victim multiple times, killing her.

According to the government-affiliated website Rokna, Atefeh Zeghibi had run away with a man two years prior. A year ago, after paying 600 million tomans to her family to settle disputes and formally recognize the marriage through a customary practice known as "Fasl," her father, despite receiving the money, had threatened to kill his daughter.

Under Article 612 of the Islamic Penal Code (Ta'zirat): Anyone who commits premeditated murder and has no plaintiff, or if the plaintiff forgives them, or if they are not subject to qisas (retribution) for any reason, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three to ten years if their actions disrupt public order, security, or if there is a fear of the perpetrator or others becoming emboldened. This article has led to situations where perpetrators of such so-called "honor" killings by fathers, brothers, or husbands are exempt from punishment.