Iranian Eighth-Grade Girl Ends Life after School Suspension

An Iranian teenager took her own life earlier this week after being suspended from school for three days for not wearing a mandatory headscarf and for having her nails polished, IranWire has learned. 

Zahra Hatami, an eighth-grade schoolgirl from the city of Shahriyar, near Tehran, threw herself from a building on October 2 because she feared her father's reaction, a source said.

"Zahra used to walk to school without a hijab, accompanied by her mother, who would also pick her up," a source told IranWire. 

"On the day of the incident, she was brought to the school office because she was not wearing a headscarf at school and had her nails polished. After that, her parents were summoned to the school," the source added. 

The parents discussed the matter with the school principal and received confirmation of Zahra’s three-day suspension.

After that, the father left the school with Zahra, while her mother stayed in the principal's office to continue the conversation and possibly find a way to prevent the teenager’s expulsion.

Due to the pressure exerted on her by the principal and fearing potential consequences at home, Zahra fled to an unfinished building in front of the school and jumped from the fourth floor.

The Dadban Legal Group, which provides legal counsel to Iranians, described the incident as a consequence of the Islamic Republic’s policy of "promoting culture and chastity in schools."

The group highlighted that prohibiting nail polish in Iranian schools lacks legal basis. 

"Expelling students for wearing nail polish is unjustified and disrupts children's access to education," it said. 

A growing number of women and girls in Iran refuse to wear mandatory head coverings and push the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.

The hijab is seen by many as a symbol of the Islamic Republic’s repression of women and the deadly crackdown on society.