age for marriage is 13 for girls and 15 for boys.13 However, children who have reached puberty
(9 lunar years for girls, 15 lunar years for boys) can marry with parental consent and court
approval.14
The Iranian legal framework does not fully protect women from violence. For instance, the
Islamic Republic of Iran does not have laws which specifically criminalise domestic violence.
Article 630 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013) excludes husbands from criminal liability when
they commit murder, assault and battery against their wife if she is caught committing a zina
offence, adultery and fornication with another man.15 Rape is not classified as a distinct crime
under Iranian law, rather it is considered as a zina offence without consent.16 It is important to
mention that marital rape is not recognised as a crime at all. The legal definition of ‘coerced
zina’ is restricted to forced vaginal and anal penetration by a penis, therefore excluding other
forms of penetration, and only when the perpetrator and the victim are unmarried, therefore
explicitly excluding marital rape.17 Beyond rape, no other form of sexual assault is specifically
criminalised under the Islamic Penal Code.18As a result, Iran’s legislative framework is
insufficient to combat domestic violence and marital rape.19 In 2017, the Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran found that Article 1108 of the
Iranian Civil Code, which obliges wives to fulfill the sexual needs of their husbands at all times,
“might even condone sexual abuse”.20 There is a serious lack of comprehensive and readily
available official data on the prevalence of domestic violence in the Islamic Republic of Iran,21 22
13
Article 1041 of the Civil Code as amended up until December 2000, NGO Impact Iran Coalition, Joint Submission to the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2016,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19809_E.pdf
14
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/wpcontent/uploads/pdf_en/LegalCom/Womens_Rights_Commentary_389929723.pdf
15
Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-five/
16
Article 221 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013), Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, https://iranhrdc.org/englishtranslation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
17
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 2020, https://iranhrdc.org/access-to-justice-for-victims-of-sexual-violence-in-iran/
18
Ibid.
19
See more: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 2020, https://iranhrdc.org/access-to-justice-for-victims-of-sexualviolence-in-iran/
20
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2017,
https://www.refworld.org/docid/58bd7e2b4.html
21
Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, Centre for Supporters of Human Rights and Minority Rights Group International
September 2019, https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1203136/download
22
Amnesty International, ‘You shall procreate’ (p. 31), March 2015,
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1311112015ENGLISH.pdf
3