In Iran, women seeking justice for rape face a system that reopens their wounds — forcing them to relive trauma in courts that offer punishment without protection, and laws with no room for mercy, a report by leading reformist newspaper Shargh said.
The report is by Niloufar Hamedi, the journalist who — along with Elaheh Mohammadi — was jailed for covering the in-custody death of Mahsa Jina Amini, an act of reporting that helped ignite the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
In her latest piece, They Rape You Once; You Die a Thousand Times, Hamedi gives voice to women who say that pursuing justice can be as punishing as the assault itself. Their accounts reveal a system that forces survivors to relive their trauma while offering little protection or empathy.
"Rape happens once, but its shrapnel pierces the survivor’s heart again and again," one woman, who remained anonymous for her safety, told Shargh.
For three years, she traveled nearly 900 kilometers from her hometown to Tehran to pursue her case, appearing repeatedly before lawyers, judges, and investigators.
The courts drag out the case, forcing survivors to recount their assaults again and again — a process that reopens their wounds and turns the pursuit of justice into another form of punishment, the women were quoted as saying in the article.
Another survivor, identified only as Sh, said: "The body’s natural defense tries to erase painful memories so you can move on — but in my case, I couldn’t erase anything. Each time I retold what happened, my whole body relived the trauma."
Death sentence for rapists
The newspaper report highlights a justice system that reopens wounds rather than healing them, and a penal code that offers only one punishment — death — leaving survivors with no other legal recourse.
"Many of us don’t want the perpetrator executed," one woman said, "but the law offers no other path."
Beyond the courts, the article explores a culture that blames victims and protects abusers.
Sociologist Mahsa Asadollahnejad told Shargh that humiliation is "the deepest wound" and that indifference allows it to spread.
Without naming officials, Hamedi’s report exposes a broader failure — laws that leave no space for mercy, a judiciary that retraumatizes, and a culture that silences.
Her restrained tone allows the women’s voices to speak for themselves, revealing the quiet persistence of systems that claim moral authority yet perpetuate harm.
