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UN Experts Urge Iran to Halt Execution of Woman Forced into Child Marriage

United Nations human rights experts have issued an urgent appeal for Iran to stop the execution of a woman who killed her abusive husband, highlighting that she was forced into marriage at age 12 and represents a victim of systemic gender-based injustice.

United Nations human rights experts are calling on Iran to immediately halt the scheduled execution of Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old woman sentenced to death for killing her abusive husband, whom she was forced to marry as a child.

In a statement issued Wednesday, eight independent UN experts declared that executing Kouhkan would constitute “a grave violation of international human rights law.” They emphasized that her case “exemplifies the systemic gender bias faced by women victims of child marriage and domestic violence within Iran's criminal justice system.”

Kouhkan, an undocumented woman from the Baluch minority, was forced to marry her cousin at age 12. She gave birth at 13 and endured years of physical and psychological abuse while laboring to support her family. The fatal confrontation occurred in May 2018 when her husband attacked her and their five-year-old son.

The experts noted that Kouhkan, who is illiterate, had no legal representation and was reportedly coerced into accepting full responsibility. Under Iran’s legal system, the victim’s family can accept “blood money” (financial compensation) in lieu of execution. However, the family is demanding $90,000—a sum described as far beyond her means and significantly above the standard rate.

The UN appeal underscores a broader pattern: nearly half of the 241 women executed in Iran between 2010 and 2024 were sentenced for killing husbands or intimate partners. The case has drawn international condemnation, framing Kouhkan not as a criminal but as a survivor failed by both her society and its legal institutions.
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