Goli Kaukhan paid 10 billion tomans in diya (blood money) to the family of her dead abusive husband to avoid execution by the Islamic regime.
Goli Koukhan, a victim of child marriage and domestic violence, escaped the death penalty in Iran after she was able to raise enough diya (blood money) to compensate her dead husband’s family, May Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, confirmed on Friday.
“Blood money has been provided, but as much as we value saving a person’s life, we cannot ignore the institutional and structural injustice that drove Goli Cohen to the brink of death,” Sato wrote in X.
Kohken was sold into marriage at the age of 12 and suffered years of abuse at the hands of her cousin, whom she married.
Kouhkan called a relative for help when she saw her husband beating her five-year-old son, which led to a fight and his death.
Women, Life, Freedom Mural in Tel Aviv, June 12, 2024. (Credit: Courtesy)
The case has been widely condemned by human rights groups since the death of her husband at the age of 18 when she was on death row at Gorgon Central Prison for the past seven years.
After being physically and emotionally abused by her husband, Koukhan ran to her family home to seek help but her father reportedly said, “I left my daughter in a white dress, the only way you can come back. [is wrapped in a shroud]” according to Ziba Baktyari, a member of the women’s advocacy organization Brasham.
In a letter dated December 1, Sato and several other UN officials asked the courts to take into account the domestic suffering Koukhan suffered during her 13-year marriage. The letter states, ‘In the case of women who commit murder in the context of domestic violence, the court should fully take into account the factors of mitigating sexual and gender-based violence suffered by women and girls, including addressing the gender bias experienced by women and girls who have been sentenced to death.
Iran has denied reports that the child bride was sentenced to death
In response to the letter, the regime denied claims that she was a member of the Baloch ethnic group, claiming instead that she was an Afghan immigrant, and denied evidence that she was a victim of child marriage.
The regime also denied reports that Khukan’s cousin accidentally killed her husband while responding to domestic violence cases against her son.
Khukan “brutally murdered her husband with multiple knives and beheaded her after being administered an anesthetic, which hurt public sentiment in the area where they lived,” the regime claimed. “In part of her statement to the court, she said that “Afterwards [the stabbings] I was afraid that he might get up and hurt me, so I took a kitchen knife (a yellow knife) and cut his throat.”
The regime also claimed to have examined thousands of messages between Khukan and his “associate”, which allegedly led authorities to believe the motive for the killing was related to their emotional relationship.
“At the final stage of justice (all stages of the legal process completed and including access to legal counsel), its implementation has been suspended due to ongoing reconciliation sessions, and efforts to obtain the consent of the victim’s family continue,” the regime stressed, despite earlier comments.
Ignoring Iran’s statement on its ethnic background, Sato wrote that “the Koukhan case reflects a widespread pattern of discrimination against women in Iran’s judicial system. Between 2010 and 2024, at least 241 women were executed in Iran. Notably, in 114 of them, women killed their husbands and killed their husbands. Many of these women were victims of domestic violence or child marriage or He was working for self-defense.
It was previously reported that, even if Kouhkan paid her husband’s family, she would be expelled from her city and would not be able to have custody or contact with her 11-year-old son.
The #GoliKohkin (#SaviGoli) campaign was launched to help him raise the necessary funds to avoid being killed by the state. She had until December to pay her husband’s family 10 billion tomans (about NIS 342,000) in blood money.
