A Report on the Brutal Murder of 19-Year-Old Hediyeh Fallah in Behshahr

Hengaw: Wednesday, April 16, 2025

The body of a young woman identified as Hediyeh Fallah Makrani, from Miandorud, was discovered in the forests of Abbasabad, near Behshahr in Mazandaran province. She had been murdered by unidentified individuals and her body was abandoned at the scene.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Friday, April 11, 2025, Hediyeh Fallah Makrani, 19 years old and a resident of the village of Makran in Miandorud County, was killed in the Abbasabad forest area of Behshahr.

Sources close to the case report that Hediyeh was raped before her death. Her hands and feet had been tied, and she was hanged. Her body was discovered by residents two days later and was buried in her hometown on Monday.

Despite the horrific nature of this crime, no suspects have been arrested as of the time of this report, and investigations are ongoing to identify those responsible.

Femicide represents the most extreme manifestation of misogyny, deeply rooted in systemic and social structures. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, discriminatory and apartheid-like laws against women and queer communities have created a landscape of legal disenfranchisement, making such killings more likely and severely hindering the pursuit of justice. This is while Iran currently ranks 143rd out of 146 countries in the global gender gap index.

According to data compiled by the Hengaw’s Statistics and Documentation Center, at least 60 cases of femicide have been recorded across various cities in Iran in the past 100 days alone.