After 11 years of stalling, Iran passed a law on Sunday making it a crime to emotionally or physically abuse or abandon a child, the nation’s first legal protection for children and juveniles. The new law materialized largely in response to nationwide outrage over the murder of a teenage girl last month. Romina Ashrafi, 14, was beheaded by her father with a farming sickle because she had run off with a boyfriend. “Romina died, but thousands of children are at the brink of life and death every day. This case clearly revealed the lack of laws protecting children,” said Reza Shafahkhah, a lawyer and children’s rights activist, who spoke to the Iranian media on Monday.

Source: New York Times June 09, 2020 01:41 UTC