According to Human Rights Watch, Razieh Ebrahimi was 17-years-old when she shot her husband in the head while he was sleeping. The young Iranian girl had been suffering abuse, both verbally and physically, for two years at the time that she committed this crime. Ebrahimi had been arrested immediately after the murder in 2010, at which point she confessed.
Ebrahimi told authorities about the abuse that she had endured, even being compelled to have a child at 15. In her confession, Ebrahimi openly told authorities that she had killed her husband, with his gun, and then buried him in the garden. She was then sentenced to the death penalty.
Yet, Ebrahimi’s actions weren’t without regret and remorse. The young girl had said to Iran’s Mehr news agency, “I married our neighbor’s son when I was only 14 because my dad insisted… My dad insisted I should marry him because he was educated and was working as a teacher…My husband mistreated me. He used any excuse to insult me, even attacking me physically.”
Ebrahimi was forced into her marriage when she was 14. At the time when she killed her husband, 17, Ebrahimi was still considered a child. This fact has resulted in warnings from two international human rights groups as her execution is impending.
This past Thurs., Jun. 19, Amnesty International reported that Iran’s Supreme Court decided to reject her plea for a retrial. This means that her execution can happen at any following point. Even though Tehran put some new laws in place for juvenile offenders in 2012, these restrictions only apply to specific crimes, such as drug offenses.
A few months ago, Ebrahimi was taken from her cell to be executed following her four years on death row. Reportedly, the sentence was stopped right before her execution when she told the authorities the age at which she had murdered her husband.
The United Nations human rights office estimated, in the beginning of 2014, that Iran has executed over 500 people in 2013. A number which has appalled and troubled the U.N. On the Human Rights Watch’s website, a statement was posted suggesting that, “Iran’s judiciary should reverse its execution order of a child bride who says she was battered.”
The Human Rights Watch has found that only Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Hamas authorities in Gaza have executed children for crimes in the past five years. Apparently, Iran still maintains the world’s highest number of child executions. International law prohibits and executions of crimes that were committed when the individual was under the age of 18.
Shadi Sadr, London-based Iranian lawyer, explained to The Guardian that Ebrahimi’s case demonstrates the crisis of young marriage in Iran. Sadr stated, “While (girls) 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.”
According to Iranian law, the victim’s family members have the right to pardon the killer’s execution or accept compensation as an alternative. Unfortunately, the family of Ebrahimi’s husband has still been in favor of the death penalty. Her husband’s family still has until the very last minute to make this decision.
Photo: Arash Khamoushi/AP
Comment Template