In most countries, a 9-year-old girl is in third grade. She cannot vote, cannot sign a contract, and cannot drive. The law recognises her as a child—someone who needs protection. But in Iran, she is already considered criminally responsible for her actions, just like an adult. This is not history. This is the current Iranian law, and it applies to millions of girls today.
Iran’s Islamic Penal Code establishes two different ages of criminal responsibility: 15 lunar years for boys, and just 9 lunar years for girls. That is a six-year gap—six years of legal protection granted to boys but denied to girls. Once a girl crosses this threshold, she can be arrested, prosecuted, and punished under the same laws as adult women. This includes corporal punishments such as flogging for offences involving alcohol, sexual conduct, or false accusations.
This age is not based on modern psychology or neuroscience. It is rooted in religious doctrine. Under Iran’s interpretation of Islamic law, criminal responsibility begins at “religious puberty”—the point at which a person is considered spiritually mature enough to fulfil religious duties. What was originally a religious milestone has been transformed into a legal boundary between childhood and full criminal accountability.
Technically, the penal code offers a narrow safeguard. A child’s punishment may be reduced if they did not understand the nature of their crime. However, the burden lies on the child to claim this right in court—often without legal representation, and often without any adult advocate. For most girls, this protection exists only on paper, not in practice.
The age of 9 appears elsewhere in Iranian law, and not by coincidence. Iran’s civil code allows girls to be married with parental and court approval at ages below the formal minimum of 13. The same reasoning that makes a 9-year-old girl criminally responsible also makes her marriageable. Once married, regardless of her age, she is subject to laws governing adult women, including legal obligations to her husband. The same system. The same age. The same logic. Childhood, for girls, ends early across the board.
This legal framework does not exist in isolation. It is part of a broader system that consistently assigns women and girls a lower status than men and boys. In court, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s. Female heirs receive half the inheritance of male heirs. Women require their husbands’ permission to travel. In 2024, Iran ranked 143rd out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index.
International bodies have repeatedly condemned these disparities. Iran has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child—but with a reservation allowing it to disregard any provisions that conflict with Islamic law. In practice, this reservation undermines most of the treaty’s protections.
Recent developments have sparked both hope and uncertainty. In February 2026, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—who had presided over this legal system for nearly four decades—was reportedly killed in a US-Israeli airstrike. Some Iranians took to the streets in celebration. But experts caution that Khamenei built a system, not just a rule. The penal code remains. The civil code remains. The gendered age of criminal responsibility remains. A new Supreme Leader is now being selected from within the same structure.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly urged Iran to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 10 for all children, without gender discrimination. It has specifically identified the age of 9 for girls as incompatible with international standards and the best interests of the child.
Human rights organisations have documented the consequences. Amnesty International has reported cases where girls were subjected to flogging and other punishments for offences committed when they were barely out of primary school. Iran continues to be listed among the countries of greatest concern for juvenile justice.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, while in custody of Iran’s morality police, triggered nationwide protests under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.” These protests were not only about the hijab—they were about decades of laws controlling women’s lives. Teenage girls led the movement, fully aware of the risks. The crackdown was severe: over 500 people were killed, and more than 19,000 detained. Among them were minors—girls who, under Iranian law, were already considered criminally responsible adults.
Rather than responding with reform, the government intensified its stance. In 2024, new hijab legislation introduced the death penalty for activists. The message was unmistakable: the system would not bend.
There have been some legal changes over the years, presented as progress. The 2012 penal code reforms suggested that offenders under 18 should be treated differently in certain cases, particularly those involving discretionary punishments. In such instances, juveniles could be sent to rehabilitation centres instead of adult prisons. However, for the most serious offences—those carrying fixed religious penalties—the gendered age of responsibility still applies. A girl over 9 lunar years can still face adult consequences.
Similarly, Iran’s 2020 child protection law introduced penalties for harm against children. Yet, as Human Rights Watch noted, it failed to address the most urgent issues: raising the age of criminal responsibility and banning child marriage. The gap between what the law claims to protect and what it actually protects remains vast—and for girls, that gap begins at age 9.
REFERENCE
- Human Rights Watch World Report 2024 — Iran: https://www.hrw.org
- UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, 2024: https://www.ohchr.org/
- Amnesty International, September 2024: https://www.amnesty.org