Homa Darabi ( fa, هما دارابی; 1940–1994) was an Iranian

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

, academic, and political activist affiliated with the

Nation Party of Iran Party of the Iranian Nation (or Nation Party of Iran, Iran Nation Party; fa, حزب ملت ایران, Ḥezb-e Mellat-e Irān) is "a small opposition" party in Iran advocating establishment of a secular democracy. Although the party is technical ...

. She is known for her political self-immolation in protest to the compulsory hijab, which led to her death.

Biography

Darabi was born in 1940 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. Following the end of high school, she entered Medical School of University of Tehran in 1959. In 1960, she was detained for an organizing a student demonstration in favor of the National Front. She married her classmate Manoochehr Keyhani in 1963. After completing her studies, she practiced in the village Bahmanieh, located in northern Iran. Darabi went to the United States to continue her studies, and obtained a pediatrics specialist degree in psychology. She returned to Iran in 1976 and was employed as a professor of child psychiatry at

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

, while she became once again politically active against the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...

. She also taught at the

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...

(later known as Shahid Beheshti University). She was dismissed from her position for "non-adherence to ''

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

''" in December 1991. Although a tribunal in May 1993 overturned the decision, the university refused to restore her position.

Death

As a sign of protest, Darabi immolated herself by pouring petrol over her head on 21 February 1994, after she had taken her ''hijab'' off in a public thoroughfare near

Tajrish Tajrish ( fa, تجريش, , also romanized as Tajrīš) is a neighbourhood of Tehran, capital of Iran. Administratively it is in Shemiranat County, Tehran Province. It used to be a village and later was absorbed into the city of Tehran. The Tajri ...

. She died from the burns in a hospital the next day.

References

Iranian pediatricians Iranian feminists Suicides by self-immolation 1940 births 1994 deaths Hijab Suicides in Iran Iranian psychiatrists Iranian women physicians Women psychiatrists Nation Party of Iran politicians National Front (Iran) student activists 20th-century Iranian physicians Iranian expatriates in the United States University of Tehran alumni University of Tehran faculty Shahid Beheshti University faculty Politicians from Tehran 1994 suicides {{psychiatrist-stub

Biography

Death

See also

Further reading

References