Iranian child bride who was forced into marriage at 15 will be hanged for 10 years after killing her husband who abused her for years

An Iranian child bride who was forced into marriage at the age of 15 has been hanged in Iran for killing her husband who abused her for years.

Samira Sabzian, 29, who has spent the past decade in prison, was executed at dawn in Ghezel Hesar prison in the Tehran city of Karaj, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Group (IHR) said.

Sabzian, from the city of Khorramabad in western Iran, was forced to marry her husband at the age of 15. In the years that followed, the girl became a victim of domestic violence, her family said.

After four years of abuse, the mother of two killed her husband in 2013 at the age of 19 and was sent to prison, where she remained for ten years.

Today Sabzian was executed by the Iranian regime – despite pleas from Britain, the UN and international human rights organizations to spare the bride.

During her detention, Sabzian refused to meet her two children in prison because one of them was a newborn when she was arrested.

But knowing she would be executed within days, Sabzian met her for the first time in a decade in an emotional reunion.

Sabzian was hanged at dawn today as human rights groups criticized Iran’s Sharia-based murder laws, which are based on the principle of “qesas” (retribution in kind).

They say the laws do not take into account possible mitigating factors such as abuse or domestic violence, as was the case in Sabzian’s case.

Under Iran’s penal code, murder suspects are sentenced to death regardless of the circumstances of the crime.

The victim’s family can decide to accept the death penalty or demand financial compensation. But in Sabzian’s case, her husband’s parents demanded the death penalty.

IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Samira was a victim of gender apartheid, child marriage and domestic violence for years, and today she has become a victim of the killing machine of the incompetent and corrupt regime.”

“A regime that asserted itself solely by killing and spreading fear.” Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the Islamic Republic must be held responsible for this crime.

Amnesty International said it was “shocked” by reports of the “horrific execution” and said the mother of two “was subjected to forced and early marriage as a child”.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed “concern” about the execution, saying Sabzian was forced to marry her husband when she was 15.

“We reiterate our call to Iran to impose a moratorium on all executions in order to abolish the death penalty,” the report continued.

Sabzian (pictured center front) from the city of Khorramabad in western Iran was forced to marry her husband at the age of 15. In the years that followed, the girl became a victim of domestic violence, her family said.

The execution has not yet been reported in the Iranian media.

Human rights groups have raised the alarm over the increase in executions in Iran this year. According to Amnesty International, at least 115 people were executed in November alone.

“The international community should call on the Iranian authorities to immediately impose an official moratorium on executions,” Amnesty said.

The British government appealed to Iran to spare Sabzian’s life.

“Samira is a victim of child marriage…Iran must end its abhorrent treatment of women and girls,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Ahmad said late Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.

According to the IHL, eighteen women have been executed in Iran this year, including Sabzian.

Iran executed eight men in cases linked to protests that broke out in September 2022, but human rights groups claim the increase in executions on all charges is intended to stoke fear among the wider population.

According to the IHR, 582 people were executed in Iran in 2022, but this year the number is likely to be significantly higher.