Maryam Yarmohammadi

Maryam Yarmohammadi was a 28-year-old mother of two, a daughter and a son, from the village of Kargan in Delfan County, Lorestan Province. About two months before her death she, her husband and their children had moved to Qeshm Island, in part to get away from gossip about her among relatives.

In the early hours of Monday, 13 Mehr 1405 (5 October 2026), her brother came to her home in Qeshm and killed her with a knife. Human rights groups report that her husband helped plan the killing and took the children out of the house beforehand. The killer told police the motive was family "honor". Her brother and her husband were both arrested. Relatives gathered outside the hospital and said they would not file a complaint. She was buried in her hometown in Delfan.

Under the Islamic Republic's penal code, a family's waiver can spare killers the retribution penalty, and Article 612 then allows only a short prison term. Laws like these leave women killed in the name of "honor" with almost no protection, and their killers with near impunity.