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Medical Student Commits Suicide after being Arrested by Sharia Police

Kamangir | October 21, 2007 | Category Human Rights, Iran, Islam, Islamic Republic

14abuhves.jpgZahra Bani Ameri (زهرا بنی عامری), a twenty-seven-year-old medical student, committed suicide in a prison in Hamedan Province, after she was arrested by the Sharia Police.

Zahra was ranked 26 among hundreds of thousands of student who took the test to become a medical student, after she graduated the high school. At the time of the incident, she was a volunteer physician working in a rural area. According to the medical records, the cause of death was pressure on the neck, which happened 0n 9pm, last Sunday. Zahra had been arrested two days before that, on 10am, in a park, because of “questions regarding her marital status”. At the time she was accompanied by a boy, named Hamid. The next morning, 10 hours before the incident happened, her family were informed of the arrest, but they were not allowed to see her. She then called her brother at 8:45pm but her father was denied to see her at 9:45pm. Shortly after that she hung herself. The events took place when due to the Islamic Fetr celebrations the Police and the prison administration were not functioning at full capacity [Persian]. As before, the news was first denied as rumors [Persian].

In a letter, her father describes that both him and her daughter were humiliated by the Police. He also mentions that Hamid was very soon released on bail, partly due the fact that his father works for a government organization [Persian]. Reportedly, Hamid himself works for the local state-run television, as well [Persian]. Zahra’s parents have not disclosed any picture of her, or any other personal details, but her medical card has been published.

Official reports claim that she has used a banner to hang herself. Many ask if she had had the freedom of wandering around, dismantling a banner and consequently hanging herself [Persian]. That has caused some people to speculate upon a staged suicide, probably after she was raped inside the prison by the Police.

Many Persian bloggers condemned the incident, including Forough who describes how her brother’s shared apartment was raided in after she decided to spend a night in there [Persian].

Reader's Comments

  1. Roman Kalik | October 21st, 2007 at 3:04 pm

    Atrocious. Simply atrocious.

  2. Ruth | October 21st, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    A socity which kills off its brightest and best is doomed.

    Rest in peace Zahra!

  3. dental » <b>Medical</b> Student Commits Suicide after being Arrested by Sharia Police | October 21st, 2007 at 5:40 pm

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  4. Global Voices Online » Iran:Medical Student Commits Suicide after being Arrested | October 21st, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    [...] Kamangir reports that Zahra Bani Amer ,a twenty-seven-year-old medical student, committed suicide in a prison in Hamedan Province, after she was arrested by the Sharia Police.Zahra was arrested two days before because of “questions about marital status”. At the time she was accompanied by a boy. Share This [...]

  5. Adam | October 21st, 2007 at 8:58 pm

    I’m a medical student in Australia and reading about this sort of thing really pisses me off!

  6. dafast » Blog Archive » Medical Student Commits Suicide after being Arrested by Sharia Police | October 22nd, 2007 at 1:26 am

    [...] can read more here Filed under: [...]

  7. ella | October 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 am

    I can’t find words, I got so angry.
    This is an atrocity!

  8. City boy | October 22nd, 2007 at 6:51 am

    Makes me want to puke.

  9. Chaya | October 22nd, 2007 at 8:06 am

    Instead of taking this as an opportunity to do something, this poor woman hanged herself! Women of Iran UNITE!! Don’t allow this persecution to keep you separated from one another!!

  10. links for 2007-10-22 « Chatquah and Galoshes | October 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 am

    [...] Iranian medical student kills herself caught with a boy out of wedlock. (tags: politics iran) [...]

  11. nachtwache | October 22nd, 2007 at 12:40 pm

    What sort of filthy mind do these lawmakers and police have, they see SEX everywhere. Maybe if they stopped and checked, they’d see it’s themselves that have the dirty mind, they should be in jail!
    I wouldn’t doubt if she had been raped by police or guards. They blame the woman when she gets raped. How convenient.
    It makes me sick when I read about what goes on there and other countries where women are treated worse than animals.

  12. buzz | October 22nd, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    Ιραν: Medical Student Commits Suicide after being Arrested by Sharia Police…

    Μια 27χρονη Ιρανή φοιτήτρια αυτοκτόνησε στο κελί της.2 μέρες πριν είχε συλληφθεί, σύμφωνα με το νόμο της σαρίας, γιατί περπατούσε με ένα αγό…

  13. ella | October 22nd, 2007 at 6:05 pm

    Nachtwache

    We don’t know if she was raped, I suspect that was the case but there are other things she might went through before her death. She might have been threatened with something, she might have been forced to do something ugly. She was young, she was bright, she was not used to the kind of treatment she got for her “crime.” Whatever happened to her, her death is a fault of the system IRI have.

  14. Bloodthirsty Liberal » Take-Your-Daughter-to-a-Stoning Day | October 23rd, 2007 at 9:52 am

    [...] knows how to treat its students: Zahra Bani Ameri, a twenty-seven-year-old medical student, committed suicide in a prison in [...]

  15. RoxieAmerica | October 23rd, 2007 at 12:18 pm

    An absolute tragedy. Why must such things happen? What a horrible end to a promising life.

  16. Political Mavens » IRANIAN MEDICAL STUDENT “COMMITS SUICIDE” | October 25th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

    [...] Kamangir reports: [...]

  17. AMT | October 25th, 2007 at 4:34 pm

    There’s two reports on this.

    I wish more women in Iran would speak out about the problems they have with men! This is when Shirin Ebadi should be fighting for women’s rights, even if she’s coming from an Islamic point of view. What God said that there should be no evidence, no trial, no jury, no justice for women???

  18. lemon female | October 26th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    This is pure speculation but were there grounds for her arrest beyond being young and desirable? How easy it would be to cite “questions” about some aspect of Sharia law and scoop her up for the pleasure of the police. Then, after a bunch of men temporarily marry her (I know you can’t do it by force but you can’t arrest someone because you lust after them either.) they fake her suicide. Assuming they even bother to fake it rather than just announce that it is so.

  19. Incognito | October 26th, 2007 at 11:06 pm

    What a waste of a life.. So sad. The main point being she was arrested for something absolutely ridiculous!!

  20. Iranian Medical Student “commits Suicide” - Trackpads Community | October 28th, 2007 at 7:31 am

    [...] some, like Zahra, a 27 year old medical student end up with a noose around their necks.Kamangir reports: Zahra Bani Ameri (زهرا بنی [...]

  21. Jayson Rex | November 12th, 2007 at 7:33 pm

    It is perfectly natural to be angry, dismayed and downright disgusted at the non-humans dominating the lives of once civilized people of Iran. But nothing will change. Sharia is the law of that land and in its name people are tortured and killed without qualms by the Islamic police.

    One should remember the dozen or so schoolgirls that died in a fire not long ago: the religious police did not allow them to escape because they were not “properly and modestly dressed”.

    The Gestapo, the NKVD and other similar organizations were eventually destroyed by the civilized world. Maybe one day the same fate will be bestowed upon those turbaned criminals posing as defenders of the Sharia in general and women’s “decency” in particular.

    I confess I am not familiar with Muslim women but I wonder if they are as promiscuous as the religious police makes them out to be. As far as Muslim men are concerned, are they really so insecure and such terrible lovers that they motivate their women to act the way the police says they do?

  22. Mike | November 13th, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    This story has brocken my heart. world must hear this story. There must be some thing can be done to stopped them.

  23. The Disgrace that is Iran « Peter Bracken | March 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 am

    [...] in her Times blog: “Life in Iran, in particular for women, can already be pretty grim, as the blog from which this picture was taken testifies. But it is about to get a whole lot worse. For just about everybody. The Iranian [...]

  24. Katze | March 30th, 2008 at 10:38 am

    “I wonder if they are as promiscuous as the religious police makes them out to be.”

    Have you seen the way the women are covered? The idea is that men can’t be held responsible for their lust, the woman is to blame for “tempting” the man, like if a lock of her hair is showing, is she’s so beautiful, the way she walks, whatever, but is most likely unintentional, the men take it to mean that she is trying to tempt them, because they live in their own distorted society where men can only be friends with other men, and women can only be with other women.

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