Iran executes child bride who killed abusive husband

Samira Sabzian is among 800 people executed by Iranian authorities in 2023

An Iranian woman convicted for murdering her abusive husband was executed on Wednesday, said an international NGO campaigning for her clemency.

Samira Sabzian, a child bride who was married off to her husband at the age of 15, had been a victim of domestic violence. Arrested in 2013 at the age of 19, she was sentenced for the murder of her husband, said Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO in a press release.

“Samira was a victim of years of gender apartheid, child marriage, and domestic violence, and today she fell victim to the incompetent and corrupt regime’s killing machine,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Norway-based rights group. “A regime that has sustained itself solely through killing and instilling fear. Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the Islamic Republic must be held accountable for this crime.”

She had two young children when she was arrested – one a new-born baby whom she saw for the first and last time when they came to the prison to say goodbye before she was hanged to death in Ghezelhesar, in the city of Karaj, 20 km northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran.

Amnesty International also expressed its shock over the execution of the mother of two.

“Samira is the eighteenth woman executed this year in Iran , out of a total of 800 hangings,” said Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International, Italy. “Iranian laws allow forced and early marriages, do not protect women from domestic violence and then kill them when they try to rebel. Samira Sabzian is the tragic testimony of a system based on the oppression of women , since their childhood.”

The office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights also expressed its "alarm" by the execution of Sabzian as it urged Iran to end capital punishment.

"We again urge Iran to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty," it added.

The United Nations earlier raised concerns about the “alarming rate” of execution of people in Iran. According to a report released in November, the country putt at least 419 people to death in the first seven months of the year. That’s a 30 per cent increase from the same period in 2022.

Secretary-general Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern “at the lack of transparent and independent investigations into reported human rights violations, in particular in the context of the latest nationwide protests”.