15-Year-Old Girl, Victim of Child Marriage, Ends Her Life
A 15-year-old girl who was a victim of child marriage took her own life in the city of Khoy.
Last Thursday, on the 22nd of Tir month, a 15-year-old girl named “Rahele Rahdar” from Qatur district, a village in Khoy, who had been forced into marriage a few months earlier under family pressure, committed suicide in her father’s house by hanging herself.
She was forced into marriage at the age of fourteen under family pressure. After seven months of married life, she experienced difficulties with her husband. When these problems escalated, she returned to her father’s house, where she faced further conflicts from her family regarding the matter. This ultimately led to her suicide and death.
The issue of child marriage has for a long time provoked widespread reactions from human rights activists, child rights advocates, and civil society. Child marriage is incompatible with the physical and psychological well-being of children and has caused repeated violations of children’s and women’s rights.
Every year we witness many children who are victims of child marriage losing their lives. Either they end their own lives or they are killed by their spouses or families. The Islamic Republic system, which has kept people under the umbrella of religious authority, has not pursued any judicial investigation or accountability regarding this issue, nor does it address it. This is because according to Islamic jurists, marriage of children even under nine years old is permissible with the consent of the father and is without objection.
