A child bride who was forced to marry a man 19 years older than her has been executed for killing her husband, a human rights group says. Rana Faraj Oghli, 24, was hanged in Iran‘s brutal Tabriz Central Prison earlier this month after she was sentenced to death for murder, according to Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO). A source told the group Rana was 16 when her family arranged the marriage.
The unnamed source, whom it has not been possible to independently verify, told IHRNGO Rana was locked in a room for two days and not let out until she accepted the deal. The marriage was reportedly a financial deal between the man and Rana’s father, who received a truck in exchange for his daughter.
Rana is the 42nd woman to be executed in the Islamic Republic this year and the 28th to be hanged for murder, according to IHRNGO. The groups said this is the highest number of women being executed in the country in over 20 years.
IHRNGO’s source said that when Rana was 16 she married the man and about two years ago she was arrested for his murder.
They added: « In her own words, those years felt like death for her and what made her reach the point of stabbing him. »
The source said Rana didn’t ask for forgiveness in court and refused a lawyer, adding: « She felt like she’d been freed from a life that was like death. »
Figures reported by the United Nations show at least 31 women were reportedly executed in Iran in 2024. Twenty-two were killed by the Islamic Republic the year before.
Of the 19 women executed for murder, nine were convicted of killing their husbands in cases involving domestic violence, forced or child marriage, according to the UN.
UN human rights experts at the beginning of December called on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of a woman who was also sentenced to death for killing her husband who physically and sexually abused her.
Goli Kouhkan, now 25, was forced to marry a cousin when she was 12 and gave birth without medical care at 13, according to the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
A violent row between Goli and her husband led to his death in 2018. She was sentenced to death after she was pressured into making a confession and had no access to legal counsel during her trial, according to the Center.
Experts including the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, issued a statement urging the authorities to halt her execution.
In a statement, they said: « This is a woman who was sold into marriage as a child, brutalised for years, and then abandoned by her family and the justice system.
« Her case starkly illustrates how gender discrimination and ethnic marginalisation intersect to create profound injustice. »
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