Iran pre-nuptial agreements land thousands of men in jail

TEHERAN: When Sadegh married his college sweetheart, he never thought he’d end up as one of those Iranians facing ruin and even prison because of huge sums demanded by his wife’s family.

But the mehrieh (affection) system, in which future husbands agree to pay a certain number of gold coins to the bride in the event of divorce, has left thousands of men in Iran languishing in jail and many more destitute.

“Our mehrieh was high, around 800 gold coins, but when we were planning the wedding, we didn’t think about how it might end,” said Sadegh, who was divorced last year after eight years of marriage.

Each gold coin is worth around 10 million rials (RM1,330). A worker on Iran’s average wage would need 50 years to earn 800 gold coins.

“Even when we talked about separation, it was supposed to be mutual and no mehrieh was going to be paid,” said Sadegh.

But then his wife’s family got involved, and suddenly Sadegh found himself in court where he was told to pay 110 coins immediately or go to jail.

“Mehrieh is good as a financial support for women in a patriarchal society like Iran, but it has become a business,” he said.

Pleading he was broke, the judge brokered a deal in which Sadegh agreed to pay the equivalent of 120 coins, one per month.

That meant a decade of payments, each taking just under half his photographer’s salary.

Then, five months in, he lost his job.

It could have been even worse. At last count, the judiciary said some 2,297 men were in jail for failing to pay their mehrieh after a divorce.

“Unfortunately, today competition among families has led to ever-increasing mehrieh,” said Hadi Sadeghi, a cleric and judiciary official who coordinates the releases.

He said mehrieh, whose level is negotiated by the families at the time of a couple’s engagement as per ancient Islamic custom, had lost its simple traditional function as a form of dowry for the newly-weds to buy furniture.

Still, many women see mehrieh as a way of redressing the balance for divorced women, who are often shunned by society.

Some exchange mehrieh for promises they will be allowed to work or study, or have child custody in the event of a divorce.

“A woman who gets married is always afraid of not having real rights at the time of separation, so she tries to guarantee her rights through mehrieh,” said Safi, a married woman in her 20s. —