Complaint Filed Against Person Who Distributed Video of Young Girl’s Marriage

The head of the judiciary in Behmai County, one of the cities under the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, announced that a complaint has been filed against a citizen for distributing a video of a young girl’s marriage.

According to Ali Saedi, the family of the young girl says that one of their neighbors, who “had a history of animosity with them,” published this video on social media.

This judicial official referred to the act of distributing the video in question as a “crime.”

The video of the marriage of this 9-year-old girl was distributed on social media on Monday, September 2, and sparked widespread negative reactions.

The video shows the marriage celebration of a girl approximately 9 years old in Likk village in Behmai, wearing a traditional wedding dress, with families enthusiastically bargaining and joking about paying the “bride price,” and ultimately the girl says “yes” and everyone celebrates.

Following the widespread circulation of this video, the judicial authorities in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad announced that the marriage contract has been annulled and “the actions of the couple, the bride’s guardian, and the officiant constituted a crime under Article 50 of the Family Protection Law, and the case has been referred to the public and revolutionary prosecutor’s office of Behmai County and the special prosecutor’s office for the clergy for judicial proceedings.”

Nevertheless, the young girl’s family is now themselves the complainants.

The head of the judiciary in Behmai County stated that after examining the complaint and identifying the accused, “appropriate judicial action will be taken.”

Previously, there have been cases of requests to prosecute those who published controversial videos. In December 2018, following the distribution of a video of a confrontation between the Saravan representative in parliament and a customs officer, some parliamentarians called for legal prosecution of the video publisher.

Last June, following the publication of news about assaults on several women in Iranshahr County, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of the country, stated that the person responsible for publishing this news would be prosecuted.

No reports have been released about the outcome of these cases so far.

Source: Radio Farda