Rights organizations said that Iran executed a woman on Wednesday who had been found guilty of killing her husband, whom she had married when she was still a minor, in defiance of a global call for mercy.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) of Norway said that Samira Sabzian, a ten-year prisoner, was executed at dawn in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj, a satellite city of Tehran.
Concern over the number of people executed by Iran this year—more than a dozen women among the hundreds of people hanged primarily on drug and murder charges—is growing as her execution takes place.
IHR said Sabzian was a “child bride” who had married her husband at the age of 15 and had been a victim of domestic violence, according to relatives.
The Hengaw rights group also confirmed the execution of the woman, now believed to be in her late 20s or early 30s, saying that she was originally from the city of Khorramabad in the western Lorestan province.
Amnesty International said it was “horrified” by the reports of the “chilling execution”, saying the mother of two was “subjected to a forced and early marriage as a child”.
The office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said it was “alarmed” by the execution, saying Sabzian had been forced to marry her husband while aged 15.
“We again urge Iran to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing death penalty,” it added.
Iranian media has not yet reported on the execution.
According to IHR, Sabzian was found guilty of killing her husband and given the death penalty when she was apprehended approximately ten years ago at the age of 19.
According to IHR, she had not seen her two children since her arrest until their last meeting in jail earlier this month.
“Samira was a victim of years of gender apartheid, child marriage and domestic violence, and today she fell victim to the incompetent and corrupt regime’s killing machine,” said Mahmood-Amiry Moghaddam,
Rights groups have raised alarm over a surge in executions in Iran this year, with at least 115 people put to death in November alone according to Amnesty International.
“The international community must urgently call on Iran’s authorities to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions,” Amnesty said.
The British government had called on Iran to spare Sabzian’s life.
“Samira is a victim of child marriage… Iran must cease its appalling treatment of women and girls,” junior foreign minister Tariq Ahmad said on X, formerly Twitter, late Tuesday
