By Tarenah Stone @ BBC Monitoring @ BBC.co.uk, April 26

More than half a million children, some as young as eight, get married every year in Iran. Most of these children are girls who marry much older men, sometimes men who are already married and have children their age.

For these girls, marriage means an end to their education, pregnancy in early teens and often divorce before the age of 18. Many come from very poor, large families whose parents have too many mouths to feed.

Some child brides are born to addicts, who trade them for money or drugs, while others get married because of tribal traditions. In some parts of the country, the culture of "one-upmanship" makes families marry off their young daughters to make themselves look good in their tribe.  According to the official IRNA news agency, some families think that girls have to get married at a young age; otherwise people will talk behind their back [....]