Child marriage: 120 perpetrators of child marriage arrested in Namin County
The Namin County Prosecutor's Office in Ardabil Province announced the arrest of 120 people involved in child marriage in the county and said that the punishment for this crime is 6 months to 2 years in prison, which will also be considered for the parents of the girl, the groom, and the groom. The physical and psychological harms caused by child marriage cause irreparable damage to the lives of girls, especially pregnancies under the age of 18, maternal mortality, depression, and sometimes suicide attempts, in addition to harms such as divorce, failure to attend school, and the persistence of the cycle of cultural and economic poverty.
According to HRANA news agency, citing Rokna, Azim Akbari, the prosecutor of Namin city in Ardabil province, announced the arrest of 120 people accused of child marriage in the city.
Pointing out that all of these defendants are from the Blue City of Biglo, he emphasized: "These 120 people were charged through investigation and interrogation, and bail was obtained from all of them. Also, two office heads who were carrying out illegal activities in collaboration with the perpetrator were sent to prison for the crime of marrying off underage girls."
Akbar added: "The law provides for imprisonment of 6 months to 2 years for this crime, and this law also includes the girl's parents, the groom, and the groom, and the prosecutor's office will deal seriously with such cases."
Referring to the wrong culture of early marriage, Prosecutor Namin stated: "Girls who marry at the age of 9 or 10 suffer many harms, such as divorce, family disputes, and physical harm. Unfortunately, this wrong practice has been prevalent in this region for years."
He continued: "There is a false culture in the region that most girls under the age of 15 will not get married if they do not get married, and as a result, marriage at an early age imposes great harm on girls."
Akbari stated that girls who are still at the age of playing and do not have any necessary education for living together suddenly end up dropping out of school at the primary level, adding: "With these conditions, in the future we will see mothers who have a number of children while they themselves will be illiterate."
Child marriage has been on the rise in Iran in recent years, and child rights activists say the phenomenon will have a negative impact on the health of Iranian families in the future.
The high rate of child marriage before reaching intellectual and mental maturity indicates the extent of this phenomenon in Iran. The age of marriage in Iran is determined based on “sexual maturity,” while experts say that sexual maturity is only part of the dimensions of full human maturity. Growth, awareness, education, and freedom of choice are the most basic and humane conditions for forming a family.
The physical and psychological harms caused by child marriage cause irreparable damage to the lives of girls, especially pregnancies under the age of 18, maternal mortality, depression, and sometimes suicide attempts, in addition to harms such as divorce, failure to attend school, and the persistence of the cycle of cultural and economic poverty.
According to published statistics, over 95,000 divorces involving women under the age of 19 were recorded between 2011 and 2015, with approximately 5,760 of these divorces related to marriages in which the couple was under the age of 15.
Source: HRANA
