In Iran, a child bride faces execution for killing her abusive husband. If she can raise nearly $105,000 by December, she will "escape death."
UNN reports with reference to The Guardian.
Details
Goli Kouhkan, 25, has been on death row in Iran for seven years for killing her abusive husband. The girl was 18 when she was arrested for her husband's death in May 2018 and sentenced to qisas – retribution in kind – for her involvement in the murder. Kouhkan needs to raise 10 billion tomans (nearly $105,000) to pay off the debt to the victim's family by the December 2025 deadline.
Goli Kouhkan comes from the Baloch people, one of the country's most marginalized communities. The girl married her cousin at the age of 12.
At 13, she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy.
According to Iran Human Rights (IHR), Kouhkan suffered years of physical and emotional abuse. She once managed to escape and run to her parents. But her father told her: "I gave my daughter away in a white dress, the only way to return [is wrapped in a shroud]."
One day, Kouhkan found her husband beating her son, who was then five years old. She called her cousin to come for help. When he arrived, an argument broke out between them, which ended in her husband's death. Kouhkan called an ambulance and told the authorities what had happened. She and her cousin were arrested.
During the interrogation, without a lawyer present and under pressure, Kouhkan signed a confession, although she is illiterate. Later, the court appointed a lawyer for her.
The judges sentenced Kouhkan to death by hanging. However, under Iranian law, the victim's family can pardon her in exchange for a "blood money" payment – compensation paid in cases of murder or bodily harm.
The prison administration negotiated a deal with the victim's family.
They will spare Kouhkan's life and release her on the condition that she pays 10 billion tomans and leaves the city of Gorgan.
However, she is unlikely to be allowed to contact her son, now 11, who is being raised by his paternal grandparents.
Women are targets of traditions supported by the Iranian regime.
Kouhkan is not an isolated case, says Ziba Bakhtiari, a member of Brashm, an organization that protects the rights of women from Balochistan.
Baloch women, and women in general, are targets of the regime. No one knows about them, no one cares about them, and their voices are not heard. Women have no rights, they must obey their husbands and are not allowed to go to school. Families marry off girls due to poverty; they cannot provide for them.
The Guardian, citing available data, writes that Iran executes the largest number of women in the world.
In 2024, at least 31 women were executed in Iran for drug-related crimes, murder, and security violations, the highest number of recorded executions of women in over 15 years. In 2025, at least 30 women have been executed so far.
According to IHR data, last year in Iran, at least 419 people, including a juvenile offender and 19 women, were executed on murder charges.
This is the highest number of executions since 2010. At the same time, only 12% of recorded executions were announced by official sources.
Also, in 2024, there were 649 cases where families chose action, or forgiveness, instead of execution.
Recall
As early as 2020, the UN Secretary-General's report indicated that courts in Iran issue a large number of death sentences, including to minors.
The Taliban has banned books written by women and 18 subjects in Afghan universities, including human rights and gender studies. This decision also applies to books by Iranian authors, creating a significant gap in education.