IranWire:

By ROGHAYEH REZAEI

Goli Koohkan was 12 years old when her family married her to her cousin without asking her consent. At 13, she was pregnant. By 18, she was in prison facing execution for her husband’s death.

Now 25, Koohkan has spent seven years in Iran’s Amirabad Prison in Gorgan, making her the longest-serving female inmate there.

In an audio message smuggled from prison, she pleads with Iranians for help, saying she “cannot leave this prison alone.”

Her case highlights the intersection of child marriage, domestic violence, and Iran’s justice system, where executions for murder can only be avoided if victims’ families agree to accept blood money instead of demanding death.

Prison officials recently negotiated a deal with the victim’s family: they will spare Koohkan’s life in exchange for 10 billion tomans ($112,000) in blood money, plus conditions that she not live in Gorgan and that her 11-year-old son receive identity documents.

Former cellmates have launched a campaign to raise the money by December, when the agreement expires. So far, they have collected about 154 million tomans - roughly 1.5 per cent of what they need.

Koohkan comes from Iran’s Baluch minority, one of the country’s most marginalized communities.

She grew up in villages around Mashhad despite her Baluch ethnicity. Like many in her community, she lacks official identity documents.

At 12, her family married her to a cousin without consultation. A year later, she became pregnant and nearly died giving birth to her son under difficult conditions.

“Her pelvis was too small, so she was afraid, and this became the reason for violence against her,” said a former cellmate who spoke to IranWire.

The violence centered on pressure for her to have more children.

When she returned to her parents’ home seeking help, her father refused to speak to her, and her mother told her she had left for her husband’s house “in white clothes and would go to the cemetery in a white shroud.”

By 18, Koohkan was isolated in her husband’s home, her phone confiscated, and forbidden from leaving the house.

On the day her husband died, Koohkan returned home to find he had beaten their 5-year-old son.

When she confronted him, a fight started. As violence escalated, she called her husband’s cousin for help, but his arrival made things worse.

“Suddenly she opened her eyes to find blood everywhere,” the former cellmate said. “She panicked, called the ambulance herself, didn’t even flee, and took responsibility for everything.”

Koohkan’s supporters say her actions - calling an ambulance and staying at the scene - indicate she did not intend to kill her husband.

They describe the death as accidental, happening during a domestic dispute that spiraled out of control.

“Someone who kills with intent and premeditation doesn’t call an ambulance,” said a civil activist and former political prisoner who knew Koohkan’s case. “This child really isn’t a killer, and structural discrimination, poverty, and bad luck brought her to this point.”

At the police station, officers called the frightened 18-year-old and directed her to sign documents she likely could not read - Koohkan was illiterate at the time. Without legal guidance or family support, she confessed.

A judge quickly sentenced both Koohkan and her husband’s cousin to death for murder. The death sentence was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court.

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