Women’s rights activist Pardis Rabiee was arrested in Yazd by Iranian security forces

23-year-old Iranian Pardis Rabiee studies genetics at Tehran's Kharazmi University and believes it is important to raise awareness about honor-related violence in Iran. She made a long list of victims of honor killings in Iran on her Twitter account @rabieepardis. Pardis was arrested in Yazd on Friday, March 11 and taken to an unknown location. It is possible that Iranian security forces took control of Pardis' account. Her account is temporarily unavailable because it violates Twitter's media policy.

The exact reason behind her arrest and the charges brought against her remain unknown. Some say her arrest is related to distributing posters and pamphlets in Tehran for the website harasswatch.com.

According to her friends, Pardis was released after 1 day of detention, but her release has not been confirmed.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.

Ralph Geissen

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Ralph Geissen