Young Bride Married At 12, Death Risks Death Over Violent Husband
Dec 05, 2025
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According to the Iran Human Rights Center, eight U.N. human rights experts warned in a statement on the 2nd (local time) that `the case of Goli Kukan, 25, an Iranian woman, shows the structural gender discrimination that victims of child marriage and domestic violence face in the Iranian justice system.' `The execution of the death penalty is a grave violation of international human rights law.'
Kukan was forced to marry her cousin at the age of 12 in 2012 and gave birth to a son at home alone at 13.
Since then, he has suffered physical and mental violence from his husband for years while working on a farm.
She, who was 18 in 2018, asked a relative for help after she and her five-year-old son were assaulted by her husband, who died after a subsequent clash. Unaware of writing and unable to access a legal representative, she was forced to 'confessions' and reportedly acknowledged full responsibility for her husband's death. This was the basis for the sentence of the Iranian Sharia Law 'Khissas (equal level retaliation').
The victim's family said that she could avoid the death penalty if she paid 10 billion to millions (about 150 million won) in 'blood compensation' under the Sharia law, but she could not afford it.
As a result, Kukan is on the verge of being executed within December.
In this regard, human rights experts pointed out that "Kukan is a survivor of domestic violence and a victim of the judicial system" and "Her death penalty is serious injustice, and the state executes a woman who has endured long-standing sexual violence and tried to protect her child.'
It also criticized that "Kukan is on the verge of death for economic reasons, not justice" "This is a cross-section of discrimination against women across the Iranian justice system". In fact, nearly half of the 241 women executed in Iran from 2010 to 2024 were sentenced to death for killing their husbands or intimate spouses, most of whom were victims of child marriage or domestic violence or self-defense.
Iran's human rights center and U.N. experts are in touch with Iranian authorities to call for emergency intervention to save Kukan's life and ensure the country complies with international human rights standards.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
