Say her name: "Marzieh Nabavi Nia"

Marzieh Nabavinia does not complete the West’s narrative of the Iranian woman; therefore, her name must be erased. We will not abandon her name.

News ID: ۳۸۶۳۵۴

چهارشنبه - ۰۱ ارديبهشت ۲۰۲۶ / 2026 01 February

Maedeh Zaman Fashami, journalist and researcher

She was a nurse. The mother of a three-year-old daughter. Her colleagues speak of her boundless kindness, given without expectation, and of a commitment she carried to her very last breath. A commitment so deeply rooted that even when flames engulfed Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) Clinic in Rasht, it did not pull her away from standing beside her patients. It was this very loyalty that immortalized her name with the title of martyr. I speak of Marzieh Nabavinia: a young nurse from Rasht who was burned alive in the fire of hatred and vengeance lit by armed rioters, yet the light of her memory still burns on.

It was the eighteenth of Dey. Armed rioters, with open backing and buoyed by promises of military intervention by American officials, poured into the streets. They had orders to destroy everything. To them, there was no distinction between patient, hospital, or nurse. Just like their patrons in the crimes of Gaza, who spare neither hospitals nor ambulances, they stormed Imam Sajjad (pbuh) Medical Center in Rasht and set it ablaze.

Marzieh, that devoted nurse, stood at the heart of this horror. As fire and smoke swallowed everything, she chose to stay. She refused to abandon her patients to save herself. It is said that the flames reached her office and her escape route was cut off. The merciless, raging fire gave her no chance to move. Marzieh was burned alive in the enemy’s fire of hatred and was martyred. Her sister, with a heart filled with both grief and pride, openly holds the President of the United States responsible for this crime and says: “Trump is my sister’s killer.”

“The unique feature of this sedition was that the US president himself - he himself - interfered in this sedition. He spoke, issued statements, and made threats. He encouraged the seditionists. He sent a message from the US to these people – whom I will name later – saying to them to go forward! Go forward! Don’t be afraid! He said that he would support them. He’d provide military support. This means the US President himself was involved in the sedition. He’s a part of the sedition.”

Throughout Iran’s turbulent history, enemies have always targeted the Islamic Republic under deceptive slogans of defending women’s rights. But the reality of their actions screams the opposite. Is attacking a clinic and burning a female nurse and mother alive a defense of women’s rights? We have not forgotten that three years ago, under the same supposedly feminist slogans, they poured into the streets, yet their violence tore the veil from their true overthrow-oriented agenda. Every time a new front of confrontation is opened against the Islamic Republic, a central element is introduced as the issue of “women’s rights.” During these days of unrest in Iran, an interesting remark circulated among foreign audiences: “The middle eastern proverb goes like this: Whenever Westerners suddenly become concerned about Middle Eastern women, those women are on the verge of being bombed.” How can one believe that the false claimants of human rights in the West, who themselves have a long record of ignoring women’s rights at home and abroad, are genuinely concerned about our women?

As Imam Khamenei stated:

“Global capitalists and global politicians intervene in the topic of women… They have the media at their disposal. [That is,] the most influential media in the world are in their hands and they know the language of the media. The motive and reason for the involvement of capitalists and colonizers in the issue of women isn’t due to a theoretical or philosophical view. It’s not that they have a philosophical theory about women they want to promote. No, that’s not the case. It’s not a humanitarian concern either. It’s not that they feel women are vulnerable in certain matters in the world and so they want to support them due to their stirring human emotions. That’s not the case either. Nor is it about carrying out a social or civic duty. These aren’t the motivations behind the interference of politicians and capitalists. What is their goal? Their true goal is political and colonial intrusion.  They intervene to lay the groundwork and provide cover for further encroachment, greater interference, and the expansion of their sphere of influence.”

Neither the Western media army that today raises the banner of defending Iranian women’s rights, nor their terrorist foot soldiers in Iran’s cities, have any real concern for women’s rights. Had they done so, they would have shown at least the smallest reaction to the burning alive of Marzieh Nabavinia, and at the very least, they would not have accepted claims of women’s rights from supporters of a regime that, over two and a half years, has killed tens of thousands of women and made life unbearable for hundreds of thousands more.

But Marzieh Nabavinia has no place in their narratives because she is one of the millions of Muslim women who accepted the Islamic framework regarding hijab and social freedoms, studied, became a mother and worked in a country governed by the Islamic Republic and ultimately was martyred selflessly. Marzieh Nabavinia does not complete the West’s narrative of the Iranian woman; therefore, her name must be erased.

Yet Marzieh Nabavinia is a shining link in the long chain of heroic women of this land, from Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) in the days of struggle against tyranny, who took up arms so the Revolution would endure, to Marzieh Nabavinia today, who, in a nurse’s uniform, did not abandon the trench of service. We will not abandon their names either. And we say her name aloud:

“Marzieh Nabavinia. Source:
Khamenei.ir