Femicide in Iran: Child bride beaten to death by husband with wooden stick, rights org. says

Taghavi’s brother transported her to the hospital, tying her unconscious body to his motorcycle with a rope when she fell from the bike. After arriving at the hospital, it was reported that the staff found her ear bone had been severed and the hair on the back of her head had been pulled out.

Taghavi’s family had not supported the match, though they were forced to accept the marriage after the girl was tricked into running away from her family home, Iran Wire and Persian diaspora site Melliun reported.

Throughout his marriage to Taghavi, the husband was said to have physically assaulted her and engaged in other forms of abusive behavior.

The husband was said to have fled the home after the beating on Sunday but was apprehended by authorities within hours.

While women’s organizations have decried the murder as another instance of femicide in a country failing to protect women, Iranian state media was slammed by the organization for labeling the murder the result of a “family dispute.”

“Taghavi’s death reflects a systemic pattern. In the absence of legal protections and effective oversight, she became a victim of deadly violence at the hands of her 27-year-old husband,” the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights shared in a statement. “This killing is not a ‘family dispute’ but a clear case of femicide and a direct consequence of child marriage and entrenched systemic violence against women under the discriminatory legal framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran, where gender-based violence remains normalised and widespread.”