How the Iranian regime is preparing to execute a 25-year-old Baluch woman whose life has been defined by child marriage, abuse, poverty, and systemic injustice.
A Childhood Stolen Before It Began
Goli Kouhkan was born into the scorching and neglected lands of Baluchistan—one of the poorest and most marginalized regions under the Iranian regime. She entered the world with no birth certificate, no legal identity, and no protection. Before she could read or write, the machinery of injustice had already consumed her life.
At just 12 years old, when most children are still holding crayons, Goli was forced into marriage with a cousin significantly older than her. No one asked her consent. No one cared for her childhood dreams. The State that should have protected her did not even acknowledge her existence.
By 13, she gave birth alone in a mud house, without medical care or emotional support. Violence became the only constant in her life—beatings, humiliation, and the daily terror of living with an abusive husband. Goli was illiterate, undocumented, and trapped.
Years of Abuse, No Escape
Goli tried repeatedly to flee the violence. But in a system built to control and silence women—especially poor, rural, Baluch women—she was always dragged back.
No shelter.
No social services.
No legal pathways to safety.
She had nothing except endurance, a trait that destroyed her as much as it kept her alive.
The Day the Violence Reached Its Breaking Point
In spring 2018, when Goli was 18, the violence erupted again. Her husband beat her and their five-year-old child mercilessly. A relative rushed in to stop the assault, a struggle followed, and the husband died.
In any functioning justice system, years of documented abuse would have been considered. But this was Iran—where women are often punished for surviving.
Arrested Without Rights, Forced Into a Confession
Goli was arrested immediately.
She had no lawyer.
She could not read the documents placed before her.
She did not understand the interrogators’ language.
Under intense psychological pressure, she eventually “confessed”—a coerced statement that became the single piece of evidence used to sentence her to qisas, or execution.
The court ignored years of domestic violence.
Ignored her being a child bride.
Ignored her lack of legal identity or protection.
The system saw only a woman—therefore expendable.
A Death Sentence She Cannot Buy Her Way Out Of
Today, at 25, Goli is imprisoned in Gorgan, awaiting execution.
The victim’s family agreed to pardon her only if she pays 10 billion tomans (about USD 90,000)—a sum deliberately set far beyond her reach.
She is facing death for one reason only: poverty.
UN Experts: “This Execution Would Be a Profound Injustice”
In a powerful joint statement, UN Special Rapporteurs demanded Iran halt the execution immediately. They described Goli as:
- “a survivor of domestic violence,”
- “a victim of child marriage,”
- “an undocumented Baluch woman subjected to multiple layers of discrimination.”
They denounced the regime’s coercive interrogation, the discriminatory qisas system, and the failure to consider years of abuse.
They warned that executing her would violate fundamental international human rights laws.
Not One Story—But Hundreds
Goli’s ordeal reflects a widespread pattern under the Iranian regime:
- 241 women executed between 2010 and 2024
- 114 executed under qisas for homicide
- A majority were victims of domestic violence or child marriage
- Many had acted in self-defense
These women are punished not for crimes, but for surviving abuse.
A Regime That Turns Victims Into Criminals
The Iranian regime has long used the judicial system as a weapon to crush the vulnerable—women, minorities, the poor. Goli’s Baluch identity and undocumented status made her invisible to the State long before she entered the courtroom.
Her entire life embodies systemic injustice:
- Denied education
- Denied identity papers
- Denied protection
- Denied a fair trial
Now she is being denied the right to live.
A Final Plea for Justice
Goli Kouhkan stands at the edge of death.
Not because justice demands it.
But because the system never saw her as human.
Her story is a cry for help—from the women of Iran, from the children forced into marriage, from the victims of domestic violence the regime refuses to protect.
Stopping her execution is not only about saving one life.
It is about refusing to let her death become yet another chapter in Iran’s long record of injustice.
Goli’s last hope is the world beyond the prison walls. Her story must not end on the gallows.
