In the first quarter of the current Persian year, 7440 marriages involving brides not yet 15 were registered in Iran. Thousands attended their wedding ceremonies still hugging their toys.

According to the ISNA news agency, Ali Akbar Mahzon of the National Statistics office said marriages involving under-age brides were only authorised after a review by a local court. Responding to criticism regarding the high numbers of such cases, he said: “With regard to marriages involving girls under 15, our figures only relate to those licensed by a court of law. We believe that figures indicating a high number of brides who are not yet 10 have been confused with those that relate to 15-year-olds.”

With the rise of conservatism under Ahmadinejad’s rule, the minimum age for marriage has been set at 18 for boys and 15 for girls.

Source: Shahrzadnews