Femicide: Young champion Hanieh Behboodi murdered by husband in Khorasan Razavi

Hengaw - Saturday, June 7, 2025

Hanieh Behboodi Pour-Amghan, a 23-year-old student and athlete from Fariman, a city in Khorasan Razavi province, was brutally murdered by her husband. The killing stemmed from the husband's anger over Pour-Amghan's recent athletic success and the public recognition she received in her hometown.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the femicide took place on Friday, June 6, 2025. Pour-Amghan —an accomplished arm-wrestling champion, a physical education student, and mother to a four-year-old daughter—was first strangled and then fatally struck on the head by her husband, Jalal Eslahi, who was also her maternal cousin.

Sources familiar with the case report that the incident occurred shortly after Pour-Amghan returned home from a competition in Gorgan, where she had earned a top title. Enraged by her public visibility and the congratulatory banners placed throughout the city, her husband attacked her in their home. After committing the murder, he attempted to stage the scene as a suicide by cutting the veins in both of her wrists.

According to these sources, the victim’s father reported the crime to the police yesterday. The perpetrator turned himself in shortly afterward and was taken into custody.

It is important to note that Hanieh had previously been subjected to repeated abuse and domestic violence by her husband.