Iranian child bride faces execution for killing the man she was forced to marry

Razieh Ebrahimi was forced to marry at the age of 14, became a mother at 15, and killed her husband at 17. Now at 21, she is on Iran's death row.

Ebrahimi, who shot dead her husband while he was sleeping, faces imminent execution, despite international laws prohibiting execution for crimes committed by juveniles.

Human Rights Watch, has urged Iran's judiciary to halt the execution. Earlier this week, Ebrahimi's lawyer also asked judges to consider a retrial, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

"I married our neighbour's son when I was only 14 because my dad insisted," Ebrahimi was quoted as telling officials working on her case, according to Mehr. "My dad insisted I should marry him because he was educated and was working as a teacher. I was 15 when I gave birth to my child." Her child is believed to be now six years old.

"I didn't know who I am or what is life all about," she said soon after being arrested. "My husband mistreated me. He used any excuse to insult me, even attacking me physically."

Ebrahimi is said to have admitted to killing her husband with his own gun before burying him in the garden. Ebrahimi initially told the police her husband was missing but her own father found the dead body and gave her in to the police.

Iran is signatory to the international convenant of civil and political rights (ICCPR) which prohibits death penalty for convicts if their act of crime is committed while they were under the age of 18.

Shadi Sadr, a London-based Iranian lawyer with the rights group Justice for Iran, told the Guardian that the case against Razieh Ebrahimi - also known as Maryan - underlined a hidden social and legal issue in Iran.

"Forced girl marriage in Iran is a hidden social and legal issue," she said. "However, it should be noted that Maryam Ebrahimi's case is not a unique case at all. This March, for instance, Farzaneh Moradi, 28, was executed for murdering her husband. She was forced to marriage at 15, gave birth at 16, fell in love with another man at 19 and was accused of murdering her husband at 20."

She added: "Women such as Maryam or Farzaneh, who are forced to marriage at childhood, are actually being raped constantly under the name of marriage. While they should go to school at that age, they are instead experiencing a life full of violence with no legal support. They eventually kill themselves or their husbands to end this vicious circle."

Sadr said Justice for Iran's research shows in 2012 alone, 1,537 girls under the age of of 10 and 29,827 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were registered for marriage in Iran.

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Source: The Guardian, June 19, 2014

Amnesty International Online Petition
Save the life of this child bride

Juvenile offender, Razieh Ebrahimi, has been sentenced to death in Iran for the murder of her husband.

Razieh has reportedly admitted to shooting her husband while he was asleep in 2010. She has said that she did so after years of being abused, physically and psychologically. At 17 years old, she was still a child at the time of the crime.

Razieh Ebrahimi was married to her husband at the age of 14. She is now mother to a six year-old child.

Amnesty understands that Razieh’s lawyer submitted a retrial request to the Supreme Court on the grounds that she was under 18 at the time of the crime, but that the Supreme Court refused this request.

Razieh’s case has already progressed to Iran’s Office of the Implementation of Sentence, meaning her execution could take place at any moment.

Since 2009, Iran has executed at least 11 child offenders, making it the country with the world’s highest number of child executions.

Demand Iran immediately halt the execution of Razieh Ebrahimi.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

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