Masoume Mehki, a Victim of Child Marriage, was Killed by Her Father
Location: Damrostan village in Tarhan district of Kohdasht city in Lorestan province
Time: 8 AM on Wednesday May 3rd, 2023
Victim: 29-year-old Masoume Mehki, mother of a 9-year-old daughter named Sogol
The killer: Kehzad Mehki, Masoume Mehki’s father, a drug addict
According to the local reporters from Kohdasht in Lorestan, when Masoumeh was 15 years old, her parents forced her to marry a man who was much older than her and was also a drug addict. From this forced marriage, she had a 9 years old daughter named Sogol. In her life with this addicted person who had a history of theft and other crimes, Masoume suffered a lot of behavioral and verbal violence and abuse and finally got divorced from him.
In recent months, she had entered into a romantic relationship with a person named Ruhollah and planned to marry him in the near future, but Masoumeh’s father, who is also addicted to drugs, was afraid that he would have to provide some furniture for his daughter as a dowry, so he was angry and during the days before the accident, he constantly beat his daughter on the pretext of having a boyfriend and why they go to the city, cafes and restaurants together before marriage.
Neighbors have told local journalists that at 8 am on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023, after the fight between father and daughter again in the village of Damrostan, the angry father with the excuse of defended his honor killed Masoumeh by shooting several bullets from his hunting gun. Currently, he is in custody.
The village women have told the reporters that Masoumeh had no sin except the decision to marry logically and properly. Ruhollah was also a good man and told Masoumeh that he didn’t need her dowry, but Masoumeh’s father said that it is distasteful to send my daughter to marriage home without a dowry, and as a result, she should not marry because of the poverty! Every time Masoumeh wanted to meet Ruhollah, her father would verbally harass her and beat her saying, “Where has my honor gone?”
Unfortunately, the lack of government investment and support for the creating and maintaining the safe houses (Shelters) for the victim of violence women, extreme poverty, addiction, unemployment, and lack of focus on creating culture and promoting awareness, which is one of the duties and responsibilities of the government, in recent years has caused families in Kohdasht forces girls to marry at a young age in order to reduce the burden of expenses on the family. In other words, the traditional view of such families sees the girls as “extra bread eating” and considers a child marriage to be a solution to get rid of this problem.
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