Father kills 16-year-old daughter for opposing forced marriage

Hana Rekan, a 16-year-old girl from Kermanshah, was shot dead by her father after she opposed being forced into marriage.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Rekan was killed on the evening of 29 August after her father shot her in the head.

Her father, Mojtaba Rekan, is reported to have previously subjected her and other family members to violence.

Rekan’s killing is another case of femicide and fatal violence against women and children, which continues amid the absence of effective legal protections and persistent structural inequalities.

Women’s and human rights activists have repeatedly warned that the lack of protective mechanisms leaves people at risk defenceless against domestic violence.