An Iranian law that allows men to marry their adopted daughters from the age of 13, has caused concern that the country’s new president is not as progressive as first thought.

President Hassan Rouhani had been touted as a new voice in the controversial Middle Eastern government but approval of this law suggests things are not about to change anytime soon.

The law in question is related to the legal marriage age, but human rights campaigners have concerns regarding incest. Although the bill has not been fully passed yet, it is at the final stages.

“This bill is legalizing paedophilia,” lawyer Shadi Sadr, who works for the group Justice for Iran, told The Guardian.

President Hassan Rouhani has approved the new law

“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 paedophilia and is endangering our children and normalizing this crime in our culture.”

 Iranian officials are trying to argue that the question of fathers marrying their adopted daughters comes out of practicality since adopted girls are forced to wear a hijab around their fathers and mothers must wear it around their adopted sons. 

Underage marriage is a very serious issue in the country, 42,000 children were married between the ages of 10 and 14 in 2010.