She asked her own mother to raise the boy after she was gone
On May 20, in the Iranian city of Ardebil, a 28-year-old woman named Asma Zarei was hanged — leaving behind a two-year-old son she had given birth to while imprisoned. Her death, unannounced by the Iranian state and documented only by human rights organizations abroad, is part of a broader and troubling pattern: dozens of women executed in Iran in recent years, many of them convicted of killing husbands or fiancés, and many of them, researchers say, survivors of domestic violence who found no protection in the courts. The silence of the state around these deaths may speak as loudly as the deaths themselves.
- A young mother was hanged in an Iranian prison while the state said nothing — her execution known to the world only because organizations outside Iran were watching.
- Her two-year-old son, born behind bars, is now an orphan; before she died, Zarei asked her own mother to raise him.
- She was not alone: at least 48 women were executed in Iran in 2025, and 21 of those had been convicted of killing husbands or fiancés — many reportedly victims of abuse who acted in desperation or self-defense.
- Human rights groups warn that Iran's judiciary is systematically failing to recognize domestic violence as a mitigating factor, effectively prosecuting survivors as criminals.
- The pattern of state silence around these executions suggests an awareness that they cannot withstand public scrutiny, even as they continue to accelerate.
On May 20, Asma Zarei, 28 years old, was hanged in the northwestern Iranian city of Ardebil. She had been in prison for three years, arrested on suspicion of poisoning her husband with sedatives. She was already pregnant when she entered those walls. She gave birth to a son inside them. When she was executed, the boy was two years old. Before her death, she asked her mother to raise him.
The Iranian government made no announcement. No state media reported what had happened. It was left to human rights organizations — Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, and the group Hengaw — to document her death and bring it to public attention.
Zarei was the sixth woman executed in Iran in 2025. The larger picture is more disturbing still: at least 48 women were put to death in Iran that year, 21 of them convicted of killing husbands or fiancés. Researchers have found a consistent thread running through many of these cases — the women were themselves victims of domestic violence, some forced into marriages with abusive partners, some who killed in desperation or self-defense. The courts, as these organizations describe it, prosecuted them as murderers without meaningfully accounting for the violence that came before.
The state's silence around these executions is itself a kind of evidence. Human rights groups warn that women in Iran are being executed at rising rates under conditions the judiciary appears unwilling to examine honestly. Zarei's son will grow up knowing his mother only through the accounts of others. Whether the international community will respond to this pattern with urgency — or allow it to continue in the shadows — remains an open and pressing question.
On May 20, in the northwestern Iranian city of Ardebil, a 28-year-old woman named Asma Zarei was hanged. She had spent the last three years in prison. She had given birth to a son while locked inside those walls. The child was two years old when his mother was executed. Before her death, Zarei asked her own mother to raise the boy after she was gone.
The Iranian government did not announce the execution. No state media carried the news. It took human rights organizations—Iran Human Rights, based in Norway, and the group Hengaw—to document what had happened and make it public. According to their records, Zarei had been arrested on suspicion of poisoning her husband with sedatives. She was already pregnant when she entered prison. She gave birth there, alone.
Zarei's case is not an isolated incident. She was the sixth woman executed in Iran in 2025, according to the organizations tracking these deaths. The broader pattern is more alarming still. In 2025 alone, at least 48 women were put to death in Iran. Of those, 21 had been convicted of killing their husbands or fiancés. Human rights researchers have documented a consistent thread running through many of these cases: the women executed were themselves victims of domestic violence. Some had been forced into marriages with abusive relatives or partners. Some killed their abusers in desperation or self-defense. The Iranian judicial system, as these organizations describe it, has prosecuted them as murderers without adequately examining the violence that preceded their actions.
The silence around Zarei's execution—the fact that Iran's official press did not report it—is itself significant. It suggests a pattern of executions that the state does not wish to highlight or defend publicly. The human rights groups filling this information gap are sounding an alarm about what they see as a systematic problem: women in Iran are being executed at rising rates, often for crimes committed under conditions of abuse and coercion that the courts appear unwilling to recognize as mitigating factors.
Zarei's son will grow up without his mother. He will know her only through what others tell him. The question now is whether the international community will treat this pattern as a matter requiring urgent attention, or whether these executions will continue to occur in the shadows, documented only by organizations working outside Iran's borders.
Notable Quotes
Many of these women were victims of domestic violence and in some cases had been forced to marry abusive relatives or partners— Iran Human Rights and Hengaw organizations
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that Iran's official media didn't report this execution?
Because silence is a choice. When a government doesn't announce an execution, it's often because the case is difficult to defend publicly. It suggests they know the story—a woman in prison, a child born behind bars, a death sentence—doesn't look good when people actually know the details.
The source mentions she was convicted of poisoning her husband. Do we know if that was self-defense?
We don't have those details. The human rights groups say many of these women were domestic violence victims, but the specifics of Zarei's situation—what led to that moment, what she endured—aren't in the public record. That's part of the problem. The courts don't seem to be examining those questions.
Twenty-one women executed for killing husbands or fiancés out of 48 total. That's a very specific subset.
It is. And it suggests a pattern. If you're a woman in Iran and you kill your abuser, the system treats you as a murderer first and doesn't seriously weigh whether you were defending yourself. The organizations documenting this see it as systematic.
What happens to the child now?
He's with his grandmother, the person his mother asked to raise him before she died. He's two years old. He'll grow up knowing his mother was executed, but possibly not understanding why, or what she endured.
Is there any indication this will change?
Not from the Iranian government. The executions are continuing. The organizations are documenting and reporting, but without international pressure or internal reform, the pattern seems likely to persist.