The body of Rahila Rahdar was found dead in her parents’ house in the city of Khoy in West Azerbaijan province on Thursday. On Sunday Rahdar’s parents confessed to strangling their daughter “using a shawl,” saying it was done to protect the family’s “honor,” Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported.
The child bride was only 14 when she was forced by her parents into marrying a man 12 years her senior last year. The husband had accused Rahdar of engaging in sexual relations with another person days before she was killed, according to Hengaw.
In Iran, the legal age for marriage is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. However, the Islamic republic allows children to marry at younger ages with their fathers’ consent and the permission of a judge.
The state-owned Statistical Centre of Iran in April reported that more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 were legally married between March and December 2022, and that more than one thousand girls under 15 gave birth during that time period.
Family honor is often used as an excuse for the murder of women and girls at the hands of their male kin - fathers, brothers, and husbands. At least 25 women were killed in Iran's western Kurdish provinces (Rojhelat) between March 2022 to March 2023, five of whom were so-called honor killings, according to Hengaw.