Iran International
A 25-year-old transgender woman, Sogand Pakdel, was shot in the head by her own uncle in an alleged honor killing at a family wedding near Shiraz in southern Iran last month.
Her death was the latest in a series of murders of queer Iranians by their own relatives, according to human rights groups, and testament to the grim practice's persistence in the Islamic theocracy.
Pakdel, a well-known trans activist in Iran, attended her cousin’s wedding despite threats from her family.
Upon arrival, her uncle allegedly fired a warning shot into the air before killing her, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). The murder took place just days before the start of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last month.
Pakdel had faced years of abuse, including beatings, abduction and death threats from family members.
The Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights cited a source saying she had been living in a Shiraz guesthouse after being ostracized yet remained active in Iran’s trans community.
“She never stayed silent,” the source told Hengaw, noting that Pakdel frequently used social media to advocate for trans rights and speak out against discrimination.
"As a transgender woman with lived experience in Iran, hearing this news is not only deeply distressing for me, but also traumatizing," said Shaya Goldoust, an Iranian trans activist now living in Vancouver, told Iran International. "It brings back the pain and fear I endured throughout three decades of life in that country."
Goldoust, who had gender affirmation surgery in 2012, said she feared for her life in Iran. She fled to Turkey in 2016, where she also faced discrimination, before eventually seeking refuge in Vancouver in 2020.
"Iran is a country where being different can cost you your life, and where even death is met with celebration by some," Goldoust added. "The reactions on social media, where many users justified or even welcomed her death simply because of her identity, are a chilling reminder of that truth."
Pakdel was a member of the Qashqai tribe known as “Galleh Zan.” Her killing was reportedly aimed to restore so-called family honor, a term used to justify such murders where they occur in traditional, socially conservative communities.
HRANA reported that her funeral was held in near-secrecy under family pressure, with only a small number in attendance. Her uncle later confessed and turned himself in.
No protection under the law
Shadi Amin, director of the Iranian LGBTQ+ rights group 6Rang, said Pakdel’s killing highlights how vulnerable trans people remain under Iran’s legal system.
Her murder occurred in a legal vacuum in which queer Iranians lack any formal protections and remain vulnerable to systemic abuse and lethal violence.
"As a trans person, Sogand should have been protected by the law—but they weren’t. Their murder by their uncle exemplifies the deadly intersection of patriarchy, heteronormativity, and systemic violence against the LGBT+ community," she told Iran International.
"To prevent such tragedies, we need profound political, cultural, and legal transformation."
Arsham Parsi, a queer Iranian-Canadian activist, was resigned.
“This is yet another heartbreaking and tragic incident from Iran. Sadly, it is not the first time a member of the LGBTQ+ community has been killed by their own family simply for being different — and tragically, it may not be the last,” he told Iran International.
Parsi, who founded Iran’s first underground LGBTQ+ support group in 2001, now lives in Toronto, where he leads the International Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR) and the Marjan Foundation, both of which support LGBTQ+ communities across the Middle East.
While being transgender is not criminalized under Iranian law, trans and queer Iranians face widespread violence, exclusion, and discrimination. Homosexuality, by contrast, is punishable by death under the Islamic Republic’s penal code.
In September 2022, two women — Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar — were sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolution Court of Urumieh for defending LGBTQ+ rights online.
Amnesty International said the verdicts were based on their “perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.” Despite international outcry, Iranian authorities stood by the sentences.
Such honor-based killings continue to surface. In February 2024, a man in Tabriz murdered his 17-year-old queer child, Parsa, and was released after serving only six months. In May 2021, Alireza Fazeli Monfared, 20, was killed by male relatives in Ahvaz for being gay—one of the few publicly acknowledged cases.
Iranian law often grants leniency to fathers who kill their children, citing paternal guardianship.
These murders typically go unpunished and underreported, ignored by the judiciary and state-run media. Activists warn that only international pressure and public scrutiny can disrupt the cycle.
“We know the Iranian regime consistently fails to take meaningful action to prevent such violence or protect LGBTQ+ individuals," Parsi told Iran International.
That’s why the responsibility falls on us — activists, human rights defenders, and allies — to raise awareness, challenge harmful norms, and advocate for change."
But with threats continuing to grow at home, many queer Iranians seek to flee the country in search of safety abroad.
“The best way to prevent Iran from rebuilding its influence in the new Syria is to have a strong Syria... weakening the new Syria goes exactly against that,” Juneau told Eye for Iran. “That’s why I struggle to see how Israel, in the longer term, is acting in favor of its own interests.”
Israel launched airstrikes on Syria's defense ministry and an area adjoining the presidential palace on July 16 following days of sectarian killings between Bedouin tribes and members of the Druze minority in southern Syria.
Israel cited a need to protect the Druze, an ethnoreligious community which also lives in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that the past week’s violence killed 1,120 people, including 427 Druze fighters, 298 Druze civilians, 354 government security forces and 21 Sunni Bedouin.
But the Israeli strikes may risk destabilizing the already fragile central government of former jihadist-turned-president Ahmed al-Sharaa, Juneau said.
“To actively work against the creation of a new Syria, where there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now... this could easily fall back against Israel itself,” said Juneau, an associate fellow with the Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Program.
“The more unstable the new Syria is, the more it creates openings for Iran to rebuild its influence.”
Israel appears to be adamantly opposed to the new rulers of Damascus.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli called for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to be assassinated in a statement posted in both English and Hebrew on his X account on July 15.
“Anyone who thinks Ahmad al-Sharaa is a legitimate leader is gravely mistaken — he is a terrorist, a barbaric murderer who should be eliminated without delay,” Chikli wrote.
The next day, Israeli jets pounded heart of Damascus, in an attack that was caught live on a news broadcast as the anchor ducked for cover.
A large flag flying outside the stricken defense ministry which replaced that of the ousted Assad dynasty dictatorship was left shredded.
US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack has taken aim at Israel’s intervention, describing the strikes to the Associated Press as “poorly timed” and a setback to ongoing efforts to stabilize the region.
Tehran eyes comeback amid Syrian chaos
Iran is likely exploiting Syria’s current instability to reactivate dormant networks tied to the former Assad regime, said Juneau, who previously served as the Canadian Department of National Defense's strategic policy analyst focused on the Middle East.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the Islamic Republic will try—probably already is trying—to rebuild its influence networks in Syria, especially with dissatisfied elements and former regime elements,” he told Eye for Iran.
Under Bashar al-Assad, Syria had become Iran’s closest state ally, acting as a conduit for arms to Hezbollah, a strategic launchpad for attacks against Israel, and a hub for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and loyalist militias.
Al-Sharaa, Syria's de facto president, has taken steps to block Iranian re-entry into Syria, including cutting arms transfer routes to Hezbollah that would be used against Israel and working to prevent the return of Iranian influence.
Israeli strikes playing into Iran's hands?
Iran has long justified its refusal to negotiate or normalize ties with Israel on ideological and strategic grounds. But Juneau warned that Israel’s current actions could validate Tehran’s narrative that diplomacy is futile.
“What message does it send when Israel not only hits Iranian and former Iranian assets in Syria, but actively hits the new Syrian government?” he asked. “I think it sends a very negative message... to the Sharaa administration itself, which has clearly said it has no hostile intentions towards its neighbors, including Israel.”
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