16-Year-Old Bride Killed by Husband Days After Marriage in Iran

IranWire-Nov21st 2025

Samaneh Ghadarkhan

A 16-year-old girl was beaten to death by her husband just days after their wedding in northwestern Iran, according to local police and information obtained by IranWire.

Maryam Taghavi was killed on November 16 by Yaqoub Jafari following an argument over a marriage loan.

Police said the suspect confessed to beating his teenage wife with a wooden stick during a “family dispute,” then taking her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

According to IranWire sources, Jafari had previously been imprisoned for violence and assault against his first wife, who divorced him as a result.

After his release, he met Maryam, but her family opposed the marriage.

He deceived Maryam into leaving her family home, and her family was eventually pressured into accepting the marriage.

The dispute that led to the murder erupted when Jafari demanded Maryam hand over money from a marriage loan.

Maryam responded that her family needed the funds for her dowry and other expenses due to their poor financial situation.

An IranWire source said Jafari initially took the bleeding girl to a nearby doctor, and when she fell unconscious and fell off his motorcycle en route, he tied her body with rope and left her at his sister’s house.

His brother-in-law took her to Ajabshir Hospital, where staff lured Jafari back under the pretext of obtaining consent for surgery, at which point police arrested him.

A hospital staff member said the killer had pulled the 16-year-old’s ear so violently that the ear bone was separated, and hair was torn from the back of her head from the pulling.

“He had beaten her savagely,” the source said.

IranWire sources said that Jafari’s first wife had burn marks all over her body from torture with kebab skewers.

Both Jafari and Maryam came from economically disadvantaged families, and Maryam had dropped out of school.

Jafari had a history of methamphetamine addiction.

An IranWire source said child marriage remains prevalent in remote villages of East Azerbaijan Province, including Ajabshir, Maragheh, and Bonab.

“In Chaharborud village in the Ajabshir district, with a population of about 1,000, 45 girls under 18 married in the past year. With the worsening financial situation of families in Iran, this phenomenon is growing,” the source said.

On October 26, Zahra Eftekhar-Zadeh, CEO of Atena Safe House, announced that 63 femicides had happened since the beginning of the Iranian calendar year.

The newspaper Etemad reported on November 7 that between 45 and 62 women were killed by male family members in just the first four to six months of the year, based only on cases reported in official media.

According to data from Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), at least 158 women were victims of family and honor killings last year.

Of these, 125 cases were registered due to family disputes or unknown causes, and 33 were classified as honor killings.

More than 16,000 cases of domestic violence against women were also reported that year. Many of these victims were teenage girls.

Read more on original:

https://iranwire.com/en/women/146466-16-year-old-bride-killed-by-husband-days-after-marriage-in-iran/