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Iranwire – Iranian authorities have postponed the execution of a victim of child marriage who had been sentenced to death for killing her husband, according to local human rights activists.
Samira Sabzian was set to be hanged on December 13 in Qarchak prison, Tehran province, but the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said that the execution was postponed for a week.
“However, this week will pass quickly, and we must continue the campaign to save Samira with greater strength,” IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said on the social media platform X.
The HRANA news agency, citing a relative of Sabzian, reported that the inmate was given several months to obtain her husband’s parents’ forgiveness and avoid execution.
The source said that Sabzian lost her ability to speak after being transferred to the quarantine ward. She was also unable to walk back to the general ward and had to be transported there in a wheelchair.
Ahead of the planned execution, Sabzian was allowed to meet with her two children, aged 17 and 10, for the first time since the start of her incarceration a decade ago.
Sabzian was 15 years old when she got married. She killed her husband four years later, in 2013. Her children were aged seven years and six months at the time of the murder.
Under Islamic Penal Code, those accused of murder are all sentenced to death, regardless of their motives and the circumstances of the crime. The victim’s family is given the choice between accepting the death penalty or opting for financial compensation.
In Sabzian’s case, her children’s grandparents were the plaintiffs and requested the death penalty to be carried out.
The Islamic Republic stands as the world’s leading executioner of women, having hanged at least 16 of them in 2022. At least 17 women have been executed in the country so far this year.
“We are concerned that during the Christmas holidays, when most of the world is on vacation, more people will be at risk of execution,” Amiry-Moghaddam said.
“In these times, especially individuals whose executions under normal circumstances could provoke stronger reactions are at risk: women, children, protesters, and other political prisoners,” he added.
