Weak Legal Structures and Ignorance as Factors in Family Crimes

Nearly a month after the death of "Niyan," a six-year-old girl who suffered from "severe uterine bleeding" due to rape, Mohammad Mahdi Seyed Naseri, a lawyer and researcher in international children's rights, stated regarding the role of the child's father in her murder that "Niyan was subjected to sexual abuse and torture and ultimately lost her life." According to this lawyer, reports indicate that a woman who was in contact with Niyan's father, along with her brother, physically assaulted the child to prevent her from revealing the sexual abuse to her father. This university lecturer pointed out the father's indifference to the bruises and burns on his daughter's body, stating that the main factor is the deficiency in the implementation of custody laws. The lawyer also referred to the incomplete enforcement of the Child and Adolescent Protection Law, which has been in effect for five years, noting that many people are unaware of the provisions of this law and children's rights. Seyed Naseri mentioned that educational shortcomings are another reason for public ignorance, as deficiencies in education and the lack of proper training for parents, teachers, and children regarding children's rights and how to report abuse cases have perpetuated this trend. On Thursday, January 17 of this year, local media in the city of Boukan in West Azerbaijan reported that a six-year-old girl named "Niyan Jabraeili-Pour (Chalbian)" lost her life due to sexual abuse and torture by her father and stepmother. However, a day later, the same media reported that the main suspect in the sexual abuse was a 19-year-old young man, until "Nasser Atabani," the head of the judiciary in West Azerbaijan, responded to this news by stating: "The main suspect in the child abuse and assault that led to the child's death has been identified and arrested." The tragic death of this child has sparked widespread reactions and once again highlighted the legal gaps in the structure of the Islamic Republic. The lack of legal protections for women and children in the laws of the Islamic Republic, along with some "Sharia exemptions" in punishments specifically carried out by male family members (including fathers, husbands, or guardians of the child), has worsened the vulnerability of children and women to violence, to the extent that reports of filicide or femicide have increasingly reached the media in recent years. Media in Iran reported the murder of a disabled 10-year-old child by her mother. The government has sent a bill to intensify the punishment for "filicide" back to the parliament. Filicide in Tabriz; the killer: My son was not accepted by welfare; I killed him because of feminine makeup.