UN experts urge Iran not to execute abused child bride

UN rights experts have urged Iran to halt the execution of a woman over the death of her abusive husband, who she was married off to at 12 years old.

Goli Kouhkan, an undocumented Baluch woman today aged 25, is set to be executed this month, eight independent United Nations experts warned in a statement published Tuesday.

"Kouhkan's case exemplifies the systemic gender bias faced by women victims of child marriage and domestic violence within Iran's criminal justice system," the experts said.

"Carrying out the execution would constitute a grave violation of international human rights law."

Kouhkan was forced into marriage at the age of 12 to her cousin, and at 13 gave birth to her son at home and without medical care, the statement said.

The experts, including the special rapporteur on the rights situation in Iran and members of the working group on discrimination against women and girls, said she had been subjected to years of physical and psychological violence while working as a farm labourer.

Then in May 2018, when she was 18 years old, her husband beat both her and their five-year-old son. After she called a relative for help, a fight broke out which ended with her husband being killed.

"Goli Kouhkan is a survivor of domestic violence and a victim of the justice system," said the experts, who were mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

"Her execution would represent a profound injustice. The State would be killing a woman who endured years of gender-based violence while defending herself and her child."

- $90,000 in 'blood money' -

The experts highlighted that Kouhkan, who is illiterate and had no access to legal representation, was reportedly coerced into accepting full responsibility for her husband's death.

The victim's family had meanwhile agreed to forgo her execution if she paid so-called "blood money", something that is permitted under Iran's sharia law.

But the statement stressed that the equivalent of $90,000 being asked for was "considerably higher than the recommended rate and far beyond her reach".

"Kouhkan faces execution not based on justice, but because she cannot afford to pay for her life," the experts said, charging that her case reflected a broader pattern of discrimination against women across Iran's justice system.

They pointed out that nearly half of the 241 women executed in the country between 2010 and 2024 were sentenced for homicide, mainly of husbands or intimate partners.

"Many of these women were victims of domestic violence or child marriage, or acted in self-defence," they said.

According to human rights groups including Amnesty International, Iran is the world's second most prolific executioner after China.