An Iranian woman who, after child marriage, endured abuse and killed her husband now faces the possibility of hanging if she cannot pay the ‘blood money’ of 10 billion toman (about $112,500 (150,000,000 KRW)).

According to the Guardian on the 3rd (local time), Goli Kouhkan (25), a death row inmate at Gorgan Prison in northern Iran, was sentenced to death and has been imprisoned for killing her husband seven years ago, when she was 18. The Islamic penal principle of qisas (an eye for an eye) was applied to Kouhkan.

Under Iranian law, if Kouhkan provides 10 billion toman as ‘diya’ (diya·blood compensation) to the victim family, she can avoid execution; if not, the execution will be carried out at the end of this year.

Kouhkan, from the Baluch minority, which makes up about 2% of Iran’s population, was forced to marry her cousin at 12 and became pregnant and gave birth to a son at 13. The Baluch are among the most marginalized minorities in Iran, and Kouhkan was an unregistered person without identification.

According to Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based human rights group, Kouhkan suffered physical and psychological abuse by her husband for years. On one occasion, she managed to escape and returned to her parental home, but her father said, “A daughter sent off in a white dress cannot come back unless she wears a shroud,” and turned her away.

In May 2018, when the incident occurred, Kouhkan witnessed her husband beating their son, who was five at the time. She called a relative to restrain him, but a fight broke out between the relative and the husband, and in the process the husband died. Kouhkan called an ambulance and reported the case to the police, and she was arrested.

Kouhkan underwent a coercive investigation without legal counsel. Illiterate, she signed a written confession and was sentenced to death by the court. Negotiations over the ‘diya’ to avoid execution were handled by prison officials, and the amount was set at 10 billion toman.

Iranian human rights activists say Kouhkan’s case is a typical example of discriminatory law enforcement against women and minorities in Iran.

In Iran, child marriage is legal and there is little legal protection against domestic violence. Mahmoud Amiri Moghadam of IHR said, “Kouhkan is a woman from a minority group and she is poor. She is among the most vulnerable in Iran,” adding, “The punishment imposed on Kouhkan is a symbolic case showing how the authorities misuse the death penalty to maintain rule by fear, and how discrimination in law and social structures drives an individual to death.”

A representative of a Baluch human rights advocacy group said, “Women in Iran have no human rights. They must obey their husbands and cannot go to school. Parents use poverty as a pretext to marry off their daughters.”

According to the Guardian, Iran has the highest number of executions of women in the world. Last year, 31 women were executed on charges including drugs, murder, and national security offenses, the highest figure in 15 years. This year, more than 30 women have already been executed.