The Temporary Wife: Luca and Valentina's Story: 2 (The Windsors)

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Some sources put the number of child marriages much higher. For example, the Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) stated there were 234,000 registered marriages of girls under the age of 15 in 2017 [footnote 160]. In 2019, BBC Monitoring and the Iran HRM cited the state-run daily newspaper, Entekhab, which stated that, according to Ali Kazemi, advisor to the legal deputy of the judiciary branch, 500,000 to 600,000 girl-child marriages were registered in Iran each year [footnote 161] [footnote 162]. The sources did not state the ages at which the children married. Women in Iran are subject to restrictions imposed by both their family and society. The country has a patriarchal culture that gives men power over women and property. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, the subordinate status of women in Iranian society is perpetuated by two main factors: patriarchal values and attitudes favouring the norm of male supremacy and a state-promoted institutional structure based on hard-liner interpretations of Islamic principles. While the former is a universal phenomenon, the latter is particular to Iran’s gender politics and policies prevalent in the country since the 1979 Revolution. Both factors emphasize the notion that a woman’s role is primarily that of a wife and a mother, which is used as justification for restricting women’s public lives.’ [footnote 91] the section of the constitution that guaranteed equality has omitted gender equality and provided equality to women only if Islamic law is observed. According to Article 20 of the Constitution of the IRI, all members of the nation, both men and women, shall receive equal protection under the legal system and shall enjoy all human, political, economic, social and cultural rights, but with a fundamental condition at the end which changes everything: “…in conformity with Islamic criteria”… Although prepared for the academic year 2000-1, an essay prepared by Sen McGlinn under the supervision of Léon Buskens (lecturer on anthropology and Islamic law at the faculties of Humanities and Law of Leiden University in the Netherlands [footnote 11]), for the paper on ‘Islamic Family Law’ continues to provide relevant information. The essay provided a comprehensive overview of family law in Iran (hereafter, the Family Law in Iran paper) and referred to other schools of Islam: A December 2001 report by the Iran Chamber Society, while almost 20 years old at the time of writing continues to remain relevant, provided a compressive overview of wedding customs in Iran [footnote 105]. In brief, Persian wedding customs and ceremonies originate from ancient Zoroastrian religious rituals and vary depending on region and between families [footnote 106]. A wedding traditionally includes two stages – the legal and contractual ceremony (Aghd or Aghed) and the reception (Jashn-e Aroosi) [footnote 107] [footnote 108]. Marriages in Iran may incorporate both traditional and non-traditional customs [footnote 109] [footnote 110].

Section 6 updated: 1 December 2021 6. Early and forced marriage 6.1 Definition of early and forced marriage The Family Law in Iran paper noted that a temporary marriage remains valid ‘even if the contract stipulates that there will be no sexual intercourse.’ [footnote 26]Writing on early marriage in Iran in November 2019, Shamin Asghari noted ‘The international human rights system has used child marriage, early marriage and forced marriage interchangeably to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties are under 18. The underlying assumption is that anyone below the age of 18 is a child and his/her marriage is forced.’ [footnote 124] Asghari’s article went on to analyse the complexities in defining an early marriage as forced when the greater context or recognition of the various factors that influence the timing of marriage is not considered [footnote 125]. This is while equal rights and equality before the law, without any exception, are among the basic principles articulated in different international instruments on human rights. For example, Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protect every person’s human rights “without distinction of sex.” The IRI’s national laws fail to uphold these principles and instead apply an unequal and discriminatory system on the basis of gender.’ [footnote 186] The Constitution of Iran guarantees all citizens the right to seek justice and to receive legal aid and advice. However, cultural factors often form barriers to women’s opportunities to seek and get justice. As Iran’s legislation is based on Islamic criteria that discriminate against women, men rule the justice system. Studies on the subject reveal that women have a negative attitude towards the justice system and their opportunities of getting justice through the system. Taking domestic violence cases to court is seen as shameful, which is why only few cases ever go that far. The formal justice system is therefore not enough of a guarantee of an individual’s rights, taking into account the underlying customs and sociocultural norms. The Court of Appeal in SC (Jamaica) v Home Secretary [2017] EWCA Civ 2112 held that, ‘the evaluative exercise is intended to be holistic and … no burden or standard of proof arises in relation to the overall issue of whether it is reasonable to internally relocate’ (paragraph 36).

In contemporary Twelver Shi’a Islam in Iran, temporary marriage stays a legal and religious conjugal union between an unmarried woman and a married or unmarried Muslim man (due to laws that sanction polygamy), which is contracted for a fixed time period in return for a set amount of money that the woman receives. The practice of temporary marriage is not only sanctioned, but also encouraged in Shi’i discourses. This is because any form of extramarital sexual relationship is prohibited by Islamic law and is culturally interdicted. Temporary marriage is, in this context, promoted as a halal alternative and an Islamically-sanctioned way to avoid premarital, extramarital and other “illegitimate” sexual relationships.’ [footnote 24]

Although child marriages were most common in rural areas, according to a lawyer in Tehran specialising in children’s rights, child marriages were spreading into urban areas [footnote 152]. Speaking to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) in 2020, on condition of anonymity, the lawyer said, ‘Until now, child marriage was a phenomenon mostly seen in villages and small towns but now it has become a big problem among those living in the margins of the cities.’ [footnote 153] The USSD Human Rights Report for 2020 stated that ‘Most rape victims likely did not report the crime because they feared official retaliation or punishment for having been raped, including charges of indecency, immoral behavior, or adultery, the last in which conviction carries the death penalty. Rape victims also feared societal reprisal or ostracism. There were reports that approximately 80 percent of rape cases went unreported.’ [footnote 191] It went on to explain that ‘Authorities considered abuse in the family a private matter and seldom discussed it publicly.’ [footnote 192] According to the USSD Bureau of Consular Affairs, evidence of a Baha’i marriage appears in the person’s shenasnameh in addition to other documents:

For information on pre-marital relationships and adultery, see the Country Policy and Information Note on Iran: Adulterers. 3.5 Dowry and maintenance rights According to Quran (2:221) Muslim men are free to marry fellow-Muslim women but they are forbidden to marry women from idolatrous communities unless they embrace Islam. They are, however, expressly allowed to marry upright women from the ahl-al-kitab, “people of the book”, meaning Jews and Christians, and, according to Shi’a, Zoroastrians, who are followers of the divine religions with a revealed scripture (5:6).Whilst there are no legal barriers to a woman resettling elsewhere in Iran, official and societal discrimination may impede women from doing so. For example, some landlords may be reluctant to rent property to a single woman. Given that some women require the permission of a male guardian to leave the home and travel alone, especially in traditional, rural areas, internal relocation is likely to be an unreasonable option in some cases. Internal relocation may be viable if the woman is financially independent, has the support or permission of a male guardian, or support of extended family or network (see Internal relocation).