A new law in Iran allows men to marry their adopted daughters at the age of 13. Activists have expressed concern stating that the bill which was approved by parliament on Sunday, opens the door for the caretaker to marry his or her adopted child if a court rules it is in the interests of the child. To the dismay of rights campaigners, girls in the Islamic republic can marry at the age of 13 with the permission of their father while the boys can marry after the age of 15, reported the Guardian.

Iran's Guardian Council, a body of jurists and clerics that vets all parliamentary bills before the constitution and the Islamic law, has yet to issue its verdict on this controversial legislation. A human rights lawyer with the London-based group Justice for Iran, Shadi Sadr quoted to the Guardian that, "This bill is legalizing pedophilia. It's not part of the Iranian culture to marry your adopted child. Obviously incest exists in Iran more or less as it happens in other countries across the world, but this bill is legalizing pedophilia and is endangering our children and normalizing this crime in our culture."