Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO)- Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch woman is scheduled to be executed in December for murder if she cannot raise the €100k blood money demanded by the victim’s family.
Forced to marry at the age of 12 and subjected for years to severe physical and psychological violence, she was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) over an incident that led to her husband’s death, alongside Mohammad Abil, the victim’s cousin, who was also sentenced to qisas.
Iran Human Rights calls on the international community and on states with diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic to act to save Goli Kouhkan’s life.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of Iran Human Rights, said: “Goli Kouhkan’s case reflects the discrimination and structural violence experienced by many women in the Islamic Republic who face the death penalty, women who are victims of poverty, child marriage, domestic violence and rejection by their families and society. On top of that, Goli is an undocumented Baloch woman, a situation that places her in the weakest and most deprived social position in Iran.” He continued: “In court, no consideration was given to Goli’s age at the time of marriage, her history of domestic violence, or the fact that she had no access to a lawyer during her arrest and interrogation and was illiterate at the time. In addition, the blood-money amount set for her case is several times the official rate, an impossible sum for a young, undocumented Baluch woman from a deprived background who has also been rejected by her family. Raising the political cost can save Goli from execution. Governments that maintain diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic must place the cancellation of Goli Kouhkan’s execution and a halt to executions in Iran on their agenda.”
Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch woman who is held in Gorgan Central Prison, was arrested for the murder of her husband in May 2018, when she was 18 years old, and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for participation in the murder.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Goli was 12 when she was forced to marry her cousin. A year later, she gave birth to a son at home without medical care. While pregnant, she was forced to do heavy farm and house work and consistently subjected to physical violence at the hands of her husband who also cut her contact with her family and friends. Every attempt to leave had been unsuccessful due to both her undocumented status and societal factors. Once, when she escaped to her parent’s home, her father told her: ‘I gave my daughter away in a white dress, you will return in a shroud.’”
The source continued: “On the day of the murder, her husband had been beating both Goli and their young son. Desperate and helpless, she called his cousin for help. When he arrived, a fight broke out which ended with her husband being killed. Goli called for an ambulance and told the authorities everything. They were both arrested and sentenced to qisas.”
Under interrogations, Goli, who had neither a lawyer nor any knowledge of her rights, accepted full responsibility for the killing under psychological pressure and threats. That “confession” later formed the basis for imposing the death sentence on both defendants, without the court properly examining the context of domestic violence or her particular circumstances.
“Her family has completely abandoned her since the arrest. Over the years, Goli has learned to read and write, as well as skills such as carpet weaving, leatherwork, and marquetry, using them both as a means to earn money and as a way to cope with the emotional void in her life. On the few occasions that she has been able to see her son, it was prison authorities who facilitated the visits. After seven years, her husband’s family have agreed to forgo execution if she pays 10 billion tomans in blood money and agrees to leave Gorgan forever,” the source added.
Iran executes the highest number of women globally. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed for drug-related, murder and security-related charges in Iran, the highest number of recorded women executions in more than 15 years. At least 37 women have been executed in 2025 so far.
In January 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran; a Gendered Perspective,” which sheds light on the contemporary experiences of women like Goli Kouhkan facing the death penalty, focusing on the discriminatory laws and societal factors that perpetuate their suffering.
Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.
Crucially, while an indicative amount is set by the Judiciary every year, there is no legal limit to how much can be demanded by families of the victims. IHRNGO has recorded many cases where defendants are executed because they cannot afford to pay the blood money. Should the victim’s family choose execution, they are not only encouraged to attend, but also to physically carry out the execution themselves.
According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 419 people including a juvenile offender and 19 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 12% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2024, Iran Human Rights also recorded 649 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions. In the first nine months of 2025, at least 457 people were executed for murder charges in Iran.
