A woman was hanged in Iran after being found guilty of murdering the husband she was forced to marry as a child, a human rights group said on Wednesday.
Samira Sabzian, who had been imprisoned for 10 years, was executed at dawn in Ghezel Hesar prison near Tehran, according to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The NGO claims that this woman, who married her husband at the age of 15, was a victim of domestic violence. She was arrested ten years ago when she was 19 years old.
According to IHR, the convicted woman had two children who she had only seen again while in custody during a visit organized in December before her execution.
“Samira was the victim of gender apartheid, child marriage and domestic violence for years, and today she is the victim of the regime’s corrupt and incompetent death machine,” said Mahmood-Amiry Moghaddam, the director of the IHR.
Human rights groups have warned of a rise in executions in the Islamic Republic this year, with at least 115 people dying in November alone, according to Amnesty International.
The NGO had called on Iran not to execute the young woman. And London intervened to prevent the execution.
“Samira is a victim of child marriage (…). “Iran must stop its appalling treatment of women and girls,” wrote Tariq Ahmad, Foreign Minister, on X (ex-Twitter) on Tuesday evening.
According to IHR, 18 women have been executed in Iran this year, including Samira Sabzian.