Eleven cases of self-immolation of women in six months in Dishmukh

The state-run newspaper "Iran" reported that in one of the cities of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces, more than 11 cases of self-immolation by women occurred in the first six months of 2019. Child marriage and domestic violence are among the reasons for these self-immolations.

Dishmook is a city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province and a part of Dehdasht County. The Iran newspaper wrote on Sunday, October 6, that field research by social activists in Dishmook and its surrounding villages showed that more than 11 cases of self-immolation by women occurred in the first six months of 2019.

Domestic violence, child marriage, and poverty and deprivation are the main reasons for these suicides.

The Iran newspaper report mentions a woman named “Soraya” who ended her life by self-immolation. Soraya was married to her 12-year-old husband when she was 11 years old.

"They were young when they got married. They didn't live together from the beginning. One day, Soraya's brothers intercepted her husband and beat him, and when her husband came home, he told her, 'Either you leave my house with the children right now or I'll kill your little child.' She got scared and went into the room and poured kerosene on herself."

Another young woman, named “Kafi,” set herself on fire after being beaten by her husband’s family. “That day, her father and brother-in-law grabbed her by the hair and beat her, and then Kafi burned herself in her own home, a few kilometers away,” the young woman’s mother said.

"All the women here are beaten so much that they burn themselves," says Kafi's mother. "All these surrounding villages are full."