Iran executes 3 women, including ex-child bride

LONDON: Iranian authorities have executed three women, among them a former child bride, for murdering their husbands, according to the Iran Human Rights Group.

This past week has been one of the bloodiest, with 32 people executed amid a substantial increase in the use of the death penalty that the charity said has resulted in twice as many executions at this point of the year compared to last year.

Citing rights groups, the BBC reported that Iran executes more women than any other country, the majority of whom are found guilty of murdering their husbands.

Among the three put to death this week was 25-year-old Soheila Abadi following her conviction for murdering the man she married at the age of 15, with the court citing her motive as “family disputes.”

Activists say many of the cases involve accusations of domestic violence that are not considered by Iranian courts.

This week, Amnesty International lambasted the country for having engaged in a “horrific execution spree,” with 250 people put to death in the first six months of 2022 alone, although precise figures are not available as Iran does not officially announce each case.

“The state machinery is carrying out killings on a mass scale across the country in an abhorrent assault on the right to life,” said Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director at Amnesty, which suggested that ethnic minorities are overrepresented.