Request for divorce led to murder of Zahra Ghaemi, state media attempt to downplay femicide

Hengaw – Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Following Hengaw’s earlier report on the murder of Zahra Ghaemi, a lecturer and member of the Department of Women and Family Studies at the University of Tehran, new information obtained by Hengaw indicates that the motive behind the killing was her request for separation and divorce from her husband.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Ghaemi, a Tehran-based academic and member of the Faculty of Social Sciences, was murdered by her husband in their shared home on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

A source familiar with the case told Hengaw that the perpetrator suffocated Ghaemi while she was asleep.

State-affiliated media outlets later published footage of a man identified as the “killer of Zahra Ghaemi,” claiming that no visible signs of violence were found on her body. In the video, released on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, the man introduces himself as the suspect in Ghaemi’s murder and confirms that he is in custody.

State-controlled media, consistent with the Islamic Republic’s misogynistic policies and efforts to downplay structural violence against women, described the murder as an “incident.”

Ghaemi was the mother of a 12-year-old daughter from her first marriage.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reiterates that femicide is not an “incident” but a direct consequence of systemic discrimination, gender-based violence, and the deeply patriarchal structures of misogynistic societies. The Islamic Republic of Iran is not only a misogynistic system but one of gender apartheid that normalizes and perpetuates femicide. By depriving women of their fundamental rights and promoting a patriarchal culture, the state not only creates the structural conditions for such crimes to occur but has itself repeatedly committed state-sanctioned femicides.