An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 roses after she filed a complaint against her "stingy" husband to claim her dowry.
 
An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 roses after she filed a complaint against her "stingy" husband to claim her dowry.

After 10 years of marriage Hengameh had decided¹ to claim her dowry of 124,000 red roses to punish her very stingy husband.

"Shortly after marriage I realised that Shahin was very cheap. He even refused to pay for my coffee if we went to a cafe or restaurant," said the woman.

But Shahin told the court he could only afford five roses a day and complained that it was "her billionaire friends who had put such ideas in her head."

The court has seized his apartment worth 600 million rials (64,000 dollars) until he has bought her the entire 124,000 roses. A long stemmed² red rose costs 20,000 rials (about two dollars) in Tehran.

Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry or mahr, which is a gift pledged³ by the man at the time of marriage, at any time during married life or when getting a divorce.

It is common in Iran to offer gold coins, or property as mahr and the number of gold coins (worth about 260 dollars) could vary from 14 to even hundreds or thousands.

An Iranian man can end up in jail over dowry debts and there has been a judicial⁴ debate whether it should be adjusted according to the man's financial status.

近日，伊朗一家法院判处一名男子为其妻子购买12万4千朵玫瑰，因为他的妻子向法院提起诉讼，要求她的吝啬老公拿出结婚聘礼。

伊朗女子亨格梅赫与丈夫结婚十年后，决定向其索要12万4千朵玫瑰的聘礼，以惩罚这个大吝啬鬼。

亨格梅赫说：“结婚后不久我就发现沙辛特别小气。我们出去喝咖啡或者吃饭，他甚至舍不得为我付一杯咖啡的钱。”

但沙辛在法庭上辩解说，他一天只能买得起五朵玫瑰花，还抱怨说“这都是他妻子的富翁朋友们出的馊主意”。

目前，法院已没收了沙辛价值6亿里亚尔（合6.4万美元）的房子，直到他给妻子买够了12.4万朵玫瑰才可赎回。在德黑兰，一朵长柄红玫瑰的售价为2万里亚尔（约合2美元）。

根据伊朗法律规定，女方可以在婚后任何时期或离婚时向男方索要“麦亥尔”（聘礼），即男方在结婚时承诺赠予女方的礼物。

在伊朗，聘礼通常为一定数量的金币或房产，金币（价值约260美元）数量从14个到几百或几千个不等。

伊朗男人可能会因为欠聘礼而坐牢，伊朗司法界也一直在争论这项法律是否应根据男方的经济状况而做出调整。

Vocabulary:

stingy:吝啬；小气

dowry:新郎赠给新娘的礼物