{"id":551516,"date":"2026-07-21T01:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/551516\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:45:15","slug":"telegram-sextortion-linked-to-deaths-of-iranian-women-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/551516\/","title":{"rendered":"Telegram sextortion linked to deaths of Iranian women, girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple teenage girls and young women in Iran have reportedly died by suicide or in honor killings after their photos were published on a Telegram channel alongside accusations regarding their sexual conduct, according to Iranian media reports and legal organizations.<\/p>\n

Over the past week, two girls in the Lorestan province ended their lives after their photos were leaked on the Telegram channel, and the Iranian newspaper Sharq reported that several others attempted suicide after their photos were published without consent.<\/p>\n

Weeks earlier, a 16-year-old girl and a 20-year-old woman also reportedly committed suicide in two separate incidents linked to claims published about them.<\/p>\n

However, an informed source told IranWire that the photo used of the young woman was \u201cjust an ordinary photo, not even a private one, taken directly from her Instagram page.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the two 16-year-old girls, identified as \u201cEsma,\u201d was buried in the Khazar Cemetery without a reception ceremony and in the presence of only a few friends and relatives, against local customs, according to the legal advocacy network Dadbaan.<\/p>\n

Women across the provinces of Lorestan<\/a>, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan<\/a> have experienced extortion attempts connected to the channel, according to reports. The channel\u2019s administrators reportedly demanded payment in exchange for removing posts.<\/p>\n

\"AA woman wearing a hijab [Illustrative] (credit: INGIMAGE)<\/p>\n

In addition to the suicides and suicide attempts, Sharq reported at least one case of honor killing linked to the channel\u2019s actions. Defense attorney Fereshteh Tabanian said online that a young girl had been killed by her father in connection with a post made about her.<\/p>\n

IranWire also reported that one woman lost her job, another was expelled from her home by her husband, and another had her engagement called off as a result of the channel.<\/p>\n

Reports link Telegram channel to suicides and honor killing<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a criminological perspective, this case illustrates how the combination of cyber violence, social stigma, and cultural pressures related to the concept of \u2018honor\u2019 can inflict severe psychological harm on victims, especially teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreventing the recurrence of such incidents requires not only criminal prosecution of the offenders but also strengthening psychological support for victims, digital literacy education, and combating victim-blaming culture,\u201d Dadbaan published in a statement.<\/p>\n

IranWire, citing an informed source, claimed that student groups affiliated with universities in Khorramabad and Borujerd were targeted by the channel.<\/p>\n

The situation escalated, however, as \u201csome individuals began sending in photos of other people\u2019s daughters and sons out of personal grudges and enmity, accompanied by highly offensive and immoral captions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The channel initially claimed to be \u201cpunishing the regime\u2019s parastous (honeytraps)\u201d but has largely targeted those labeled \u201cenemies of the state\u201d as well as pro-regime figures, according to IranWire.<\/p>\n

Activists warn misogyny-fueled abuse campaign<\/p>\n

Samaneh Sawadi, a lawyer and gender equality activist based in the United Kingdom,<\/a> told DW Persian that \u201cthis is a cybercrime and a violation of women\u2019s privacy, but those who committed such an act knew in what context and culture they were doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took advantage of the misogynistic atmosphere and touched on parts of the culture that could have led some of those women to a point where some of them were willing to lose their lives, and some were forced to delete social networks and leave cyberspace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen society does not think that the presence of women is fundamentally sinful, it will not resort to such tactics to eliminate them. We can certainly report them, but then another channel will emerge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see in what context these channels are created \u2013 in a context where the family considers the daughter and niece as its own personal property and sees her body, face, and social presence as its own and turns her decision to have a profile into a tool and says, \u2018I will not allow you to do this,\u2019\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Police arrest three suspects, search for fourth continues<\/p>\n

Some reports have claimed that despite promises from the police and judiciary, no action has been taken to remove the Telegram<\/a> channels or follow up on numerous complaints filed in connection with the account.<\/p>\n

However, the Lorestan Prosecutor\u2019s Office reported that three of the channel\u2019s operators were identified and arrested by police, while an ongoing search remains underway for a fourth suspect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple teenage girls and young women in Iran have reportedly died by suicide or in honor killings after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,87,43,11915,12159,40,38,41,39,40472],"class_list":["post-551516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-news","tag-suicide","tag-telegram","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}