Hengaw's monthly report on women’s rights violations in Iran – March 2025

Hengaw: Wednesday, April 2, 2025

According to data documented by the Statistics and Documentation Center of the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, at least 17 women activists were arrested and 6 others were sentenced to prison by the Iran's judiciary in March 2025. During the same period, at least 8 femicides and 4 executions of women were reported across various cities in Iran.

Executions of women in Iran

In March 2025, at least four women were executed in different prisons across Iran. Three were convicted of premeditated murder and one of drug-related offenses.

Their names are as follows:
    1.    Asieh Ghavicheshm, from Mashhad, was executed in Mashhad Central Prison for drug-related charges.
    2.    Nasrin Barani, from Isfahan, was executed in Isfahan Central Prison for murder.
    3.    Mozhgan Azarpisheh, from Urmia, was executed in Urmia Central Prison for murder.
    4.    Kosar Baghernejad, from Bonab, was executed in Urmia Central Prison for murder.

17 women arrested in March 2025

At least 17 women activists were arrested by security forces in March 2025. This figure represents 13.5% of all arrests documented that month. Notably, 9 of the 17 detained women (53%) were Kurdish activists.

The names of the arrested women are as follows:

Sanandaj:
    1.    Leila Pashaei (from Saqqez)
    2.    Baran Saeidi
    3.    Soma Mohammadzadeh
    4.    Shno Mohammadi

Tehran:
5. Sedigheh Noorbala
6. Fatemeh Atashi Khiavi (from Ardabil)
7. Marziyeh Ghafari Zadeh
8. Leila Qolikhani Ganjeh

Urmia:
9. Rojbin Afsoon
10. Avin Ahmadi
11. Sarya Ahmadi

Tabriz:
12. Sima Alipour

Dehdasht:
13. Mehregan Namavar

Dehgolan:
14. Soheila Motaei

Rasht:
15. Nina Golestani

Sardasht:
16. Arezoo Jalilzadeh

Semnan:
17. Anisa Fanaeian

Prison sentences Issued for women activists

Hengaw has confirmed that six women activists were sentenced in various cities across Iran to a combined total of 19 years, 11 months, and 8 days of prison time in March 2025.

The following women received sentences:
    1.    Narges Nasri (Tehran) – 10 years
    2.    Fereshteh Souri (Nahavand) – 1 year
    3.    Mandana Sadeghi (Abadan) – 4 years, 2 months, 7 days
    4.    Farzaneh Yahyaabadi (Abadan) – 3 months, 1 day
    5.    Hamideh Zarei (Rasht) – 1 year, 6 months
    6.    Kobra Taherkhani (Qazvin) – 3 years

The arrest and sentencing of women is a routine discriminatory practice under the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement, pressure on female activists intensified significantly. From its inception, the Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued a systematic policy of restricting women’s social, political, and human rights activism. These restrictions are reinforced by gender segregation laws and the criminalization of LGBTQ+ identities—cornerstones of Iran’s gender apartheid system.

Eight cases of femicides recorded in March 2025

Hengaw recorded at least 8 femicides in March 2025 across various Iranian cities. In all cases, the women were murdered by people close to them—including spouses and male relatives.

According to the report, three women were killed by their husbands, while the other five were murdered by a fiancé, a daughter’s fiancé, a son, a brother, and an uncle-in-law.

At least five of the murders were due to family disputes. Two women were killed after refusing marriage proposals, and one woman was murdered for unspecified reasons.

Breakdown by province:
    •    Isfahan Province: 3 cases
    •    Alborz, West Azerbaijan (Urmia), Tehran, Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan: 1 case each

Femicides represent the most extreme form of misogyny in society. So-called “honor killings” are only one subset of these murders. At their core, femicides are rooted in patriarchal, anti-woman structures and laws. According to Hengaw’s human rights data, 191 femicides were recorded in Iran in 2024, with the majority committed by close male relatives. Institutionalized misogyny in both law and culture normalizes such deep-rooted violence against women.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights classifies the Islamic Republic of Iran as a gender apartheid state—a system where the systematic murder and persecution of women is at times legally codified. The international community must recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity and incorporate it into international legal frameworks. It must also classify the Islamic Republic of Iran as a gender apartheid system and hold it accountable under international law for its anti-woman laws and systematic oppression of women.