Stories from women in Iran

[RelaxAndDetox]

To those who asked why Iranian women Marzieh and Reyhaneh didn't report rape in court before defending themselves.

Marzieh Nayeri was forced to marry a man at 17. Child marriage is legal under Sharia law in Iran.

At 18, her husband's business associate, drunk, in her own home, tried to sexually assault her. Her husband watched and did nothing. She grabbed a kitchen knife. She fought back. The attacker was wounded. Her husband was killed. She hid for four days. Then she went to her brother for help. He turned her in to the police.

She recorded a message for her mother before her execution:

"I want the world to know what is being done to me."

Iran hanged her on August 8, 2026. She was 24.

Reyhaneh Jabbari was 19 when a former intelligence officer tried to sexually assault her. She fought back. He died. She spent seven years in Evin Prison. The world signed petitions. Iran sharpened the rope. She was 26.

Iran hanged her anyway. In 2014.

Under Sharia law in Iran, to prove rape, a woman must produce four male witnesses to the act itself.

Four. Male. Witnesses.

If she cannot, her accusation becomes a confession. She is no longer the victim. She is the criminal, facing flogging, prison, or death.

This is not ancient history. This is the law still on the books today. The law that Abdul El-Sayed is asking Americans not to fear.

Their stories don't often make the news in the West. Hidden away. Forgotten. Ignored.

Thank you for that @RelaxAndDetox I hadn't read about that just looking up about it now.

Unbelievably barbaric

This whole post is directly copied from Facebook if you are not the author you should probably credit them.

However on your last sentence could you post where he said that.

The entire story was copied from a Facebook story. I understand it is true.

The story was shared by Masih Alinejad. Thats the author.

Marzieh Nayeri: Executed at Qazvin Central Prison at age 24 after a court rejected her self-defense claim during a 2021 incident involving an alleged sexual assault by her husband's associate and the subsequent death of her husband.Reyhaneh Jabbari: Hanged in 2014 at age 26 after spending seven years in Evin Prison for killing a former intelligence officer who she stated attempted to sexually assault her.Legal Framework: Iran's legal system implements strict evidentiary requirements under its interpretation of Islamic penal law, creating extreme obstacles for women seeking legal redress or recognition of self-defense against male aggressors.

I did check that the case was true. Do you think it isn't then?

The minimum legal age of marriage on Iran for girls is now 9. This tells us everything we need to know about the way the regime dehumanize women and ignore their rights.

He has a Facebook profile with a large following. He posts about injustices in Iran.

It's brave that he attempts to expose the evil that goes on in Iran. It needs exposing to the world.

It's barbaric. Old men and young girls allowed by their law. Sick.

Euronews Persian reported the case of Marzieh Nayeri.

They report that Iran Human Rights said she had been forced into marriage at 17 under family pressure. The incident that led to her execution occurred in October 2021, when she was 18.

At her trial, Nieri said one of her husband's business partners had attempted to assault her after becoming inebriated and that she wounded him with a kitchen knife in self-defence. Her husband was also killed during the confrontation.
Nieri turned herself in to the police four days after the incident, after going to her brother's home.

The court rejected her self-defence claim and, following a request from the victims' families for qisas — retribution in kind under the Islamic Republic's law — sentenced her to death.

Iran Human Rights said her execution brought the number of women executed in Iran since the start of 2026 to at least 14.

The executions come against a backdrop of sharply rising execution rates for women in Iran. The US State Department said at least 61 women were executed in Iran in 2025 — the highest figure in 25 years and roughly 70% more than the previous year. It described Iran as far ahead of any other country in the number of death sentences carried out against women.

Killing a husband or partner is one of the most common charges in cases involving women on death row in Iran. Iran Human Rights said at least 21 of the women executed in 2025 had been sentenced to qisas for killing their husbands or fiancés.

Women's rights organisations say many of those women had a history of domestic violence before the killing, and that forced marriage at a young age, economic dependence, restricted access to divorce and limited legal protection leave many women with few options for escaping abusive relationships.

www.euronews.com/2026/08/11/iran-executes-woman-who-claimed-self-defence-against-sexual-assault

The injustice in Iran needs more air. More focus on the barbarity that occurs there. It feels like they are forgotten and no one cares about them. Prisoners to a regime and no way of escaping.

Masih Alinejad is a woman. The Iranian government has tried to kill her - she is remarkably fearless and knows what she is talking about.

There’s nothing atm. It’s amazing how little is making it out, no one cares.

Of course it's true. I said that in my post . I read about it on a couple of sites (not enough agree with that) . It's unbelievably barbaric. I just felt the last couple of sentences were unnecessary and create a different agenda as opposed to examining an Iranian issue.

The law that Abdul El-Sayed is asking Americans not to fear.

I cannot seem to find a quote for your claim above. Iran and well as other nations with Sharia law that define rape very narrowly are rules and practices that are completely foreign to most in the West. I agree that how women are treated in Iran, since the fall of the Shah, is horrendous.

https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/aug/10/tweets/abdul-el-sayed-sharia-muslim-cair-michigan-senate/

I'm sorry I had no idea. What a brave woman. I've only just started learning about the injustice in Iran.

As I said I copied her post in it's entirety, the brave Iranian woman wrote it.

I imagine she knows exactly what she writes.

I didn't make the claim above. For the numerous time, I copied her post in its entirety. She posted it. Its her words, not mine.

I've been reading more about her. Immensely brave.

https://x.com/AlinejadMasih/status/2088754438634631447

Masih Alinejad

Another post of hers:

"I am sorry, Shahram. Until they hanged you this morning, I didn’t know your name. I didn’t even have your photo.

That is exactly what the Islamic Republic wanted.

This is Shahram Sadeghi. A young protester from the January uprising. Arrested. Tortured. Hanged at dawn, after the Azan.

They hid his face. Silenced his family. Erased him before killing him."

So have I ... thank you for the thread. It's true that we don't hear much in the West about the women in Iran. Their voices are rarely heard.

There is a film about her. I'll be watching later. The world needs more like her.

https://letterboxd.com/film/be-my-voice/

I have been reading more and more about this amazing woman today. She shows the hidden barbarity of Iran, the amazing people and their struggles against the regime.

Will continue when work is over.

I've also been reading about Dr Abdul El-Sayed who has spoken out against bans on Sharia law, arguing such efforts are rooted in White supremacy.

"The state of Oklahoma voted in a referendum to amend the constitution to ban Shariah law. What does that mean? I don’t know. And yet the voters banned it anyway," he said in 2022. "The same exact forces that drove Native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today.

"The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Sharia ban without understanding the Trail of Tears. You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding white supremacy."

www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-interview-reveals-el-sayeds-sharia-obligation-not-because-fear

There is no justice without understanding.

Theres some concerning stories

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/el-sayed-touts-endorsement-from-pastor-who-praised-notorious-antisemite-infamous-calling-jews-termites