Iranian child sold for sex and raped by own brothers

Sold into prostitution aged nine, condemned by an Iranian judge to hang at 18, Leila was saved by a group of human rights activists.

"I was nine years old when my mother started selling me. I did not understand what was happening."

Today Leila is a young woman of 22. For the past two years she has been cared for by a private home for destitute young women in Tehran, Omid E Mehr, which means Hope.

"My mother would say: 'Let's go out to buy things, like chocolates'. She would actually trick me. I was a tiny girl. She just took me to places."

Leila still finds it difficult to talk about the past. But we know that the "places" she speaks of are where she was sold for sex and raped.

Leila became the main source of income for a family of five.

The lawyer who eventually saved Leila's life, Shadi Sadr, is a controversial figure in Iran. Although she was imprisoned earlier this year for taking part in human rights demonstrations, she is widely respected and frequently quoted in the press.

Ms Sadr says Leila's story is not unique.

"A girl is considered one of the first commodities or properties that can be traded or sold in the eyes of a parent who is poor in Iran," she says.

Ms Sadr says that, in practice in Iran, under the Islamic penal code a father has enormous power over his own children.

"If a father decides to kill his own child he will not be sentenced to death, he will only be sent to prison for a couple of years."

Temporary wife

Leila lived in Arak, a small town four hours drive south of Tehran - notorious for criminal behaviour and illegal drugs. Most of Leila's earnings went on illegal narcotics for her family.

According to the United Nations three quarters of the world's opium seizures take place in Iran and the authorities acknowledge addiction is a serious problem.

But there are no such statistics on prostitution. The Director of the Omid E Mehr centre in Tehran says it is a growing problem.

"I have entered many homes in the south of Tehran where young girls had to go out and sell their bodies to provide for their father's drug habits," says Eshrat Gholipour.

I have also seen several cases of families chaining their own daughter to the homes to stop them from running away."

Leila's husband begun selling her for sex to as many as 15 men each night. Two months into the marriage, police raided the house and arrested everyone.

The husband was sentenced to five years in jail for providing a house for illegal sex.

During the course of the criminal investigation, Leila's brothers had confessed to raping her. They were flogged. For this Leila was accused of incest. A crime punishable by death.

Leila was in a women's prison when she heard about her own sentence from the warder: "I am going to tell you something but please do not be upset. You are going to be hanged."

Ms Sadr says the judicial system is deeply conservative and unfair.

"These male judges have not had any training about sexual charges. They all have a chauvinistic point of view and they see the woman as guilty," she says.

Leila's brothers later retracted their confessions. Ms Sadr took Leila's case to appeal and won. -BBC