Homa Darabi
Homa Darabi (Persian: هما دارابی; 1940–1994) was an Iranian pediatrician, academic and political activist affiliated with the Nation Party of Iran. She is known for her political self-immolation in protest to the compulsory hijab, that led to her death.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Death
- 3 See also
- 4 Further reading
- 5 References
Biography
Darabi was born in 1940 in Tehran. Following the end of high school, she entered Medical School of University of Tehran in 1959. In 1960, she was detained for a organizing a student demonstration in favor of the National Front. She married her cl*mate 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, while she became once again politically active against the Pahlavi dynasty. She also taught at the National University (later known as Shahid Beheshti University).
She was dismissed from her position for "non-adherence to hijab" in December 1991. Despite the decision was overturned by the tribunal in May 1993, 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.
She died of the burns in a hospital the next day.
See also
- List of political self-immolations
Further reading
- Darabi, Parvin; Thomson, Romin P (1999). Rage against the veil: the courageous life and death of an Islamic dissident. Amherst, N.Y.:: Prometheus Books. ISBN:9781573926829.