K.M.M.K:
April 27 to May 4, 2025 – Kurdistan, Iran
The Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) has reported a chilling spike in suicides and murders across Kurdish cities in Iran over a single week — highlighting a deepening social and psychological crisis, particularly affecting women.
From April 27 to May 4, ten people took their own lives and nine were murdered. The figures include multiple femicides and a gruesome crime involving a teenage girl — painting a harrowing portrait of a society plagued by trauma, suppression, and systemic violence.
Suicide: Silent Deaths in a Void of Protection
Ten individuals from different cities in eastern Kurdistan ended their lives this week — each death a cry for help that went unheard. These individuals weren’t only struggling with depression or psychological pressure. They were trapped in a broken system that offers neither mental safety nor social support:
• Mahdis Ghasemi – Shazand
• Sadegh Rabiei – Bisotun
• Mehran Rasouli – Urmia
• Somayeh Nourollahi – Khorramabad
• Erfan Ayoubian – Sanandaj
• Farshad Fattahi – Dehgolan
• Shirin (Khadijeh) Ghasemi – Mahabad
• Armin Heidari – Asadabad
• Mohammad Mohammadi – Kermanshah
• Soshin Fathi – Saqqez
Among the victims are women and teenagers — their suicides often tied to rejection, sexual and psychological pressure, and a future that felt hopeless.
Street Killings & Femicides: A Repetitive Cycle of Brutality
Two men lost their lives in street altercations this week:
• Elia Mohammadian – Piranshahr
• Rahman Esmaili – Kuhdasht
But the most horrifying case was the double murder of Ali Zare’ Emami and Aynaz Hasil, a teenage girl from Abadeh. Two attackers attempted to rape the pair, killing Ali and kidnapping Aynaz. After several days of sexual assault, they murdered her too. The perpetrators confessed after 20 days.
Femicides: Domestic Murders Backed by Patriarchy
In one week, four women and one man — involved in a complex web of family-related violence — were killed:
• Mahrou Tandpour – Yasuj
• Samira Nourbakhsh – Kermanshah
• Batoul Mohammadi – Kermanshah
• Fatemeh Mohammadi – Kermanshah
• Saman Mohammadi – Kermanshah
All of these killings occurred within family circles or were committed by relatives, exposing the deadly reality that, for many women in Iran, home is not a haven — it’s a battleground.
A Systemic Crisis, Not Individual Tragedy
The chain of suicides, femicides, and sexual violence reflects a systemic crisis, not isolated events. These are the direct results of a regime that normalizes violence against women, offering little protection and even less justice. In such a society, men are often given power over the lives of others, and the law — through neglect or bias — enforces that dominance.
Femicides are not “just murders” — they are acts of violence deeply rooted in law, tradition, and political systems.
Until Iran’s institutions of education, lawmaking, and justice shift away from reinforcing patriarchy and begin promoting equality, this vicious cycle will persist.
We document these names not as statistics, but as stories that must not disappear in the fog of societal indifference.
R.M
