Teenage Girl's Suicide; School Officials: 'She Wore Jeans'

Warning: Contains content related to suicide. Nothing is more important than human life. If you are thinking about suicide, please contact these special numbers for help: In Iran: Social Emergency 123, Advisor's Voice 1480, or Tehran Psychiatric Emergency 44508200. In the USA: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 18002738255, or National Crisis and Suicide Prevention Line 988. In Canada: 911 or 18334564566. In the UK: 116123 and in Afghanistan: 119. A teenage girl in Shahre Rey committed suicide after school officials confronted her and threatened her with expulsion from high school. Her father says he has filed a complaint against the officials and the school principal. News sources have identified the student as 'Arzoo Khavari, 16 years old and a ninth-grade student.' In a narrative published on Tuesday, November 6, in Rokna news agency, the father of the deceased student said that his daughter Arzoo went on a school trip on Saturday, and the school called to inform them, 'Do you know what your daughter has done? She wore jeans instead of the uniform pants,' and 'half an hour later, the principal called again and said Arzoo left the school at four in the afternoon without coordination, and we have no news of her.' The father stated that the school officials called the family an hour later to ask them to come to the hospital, adding, 'I went to the hospital and faced my daughter's corpse.' Mr. Khavari announced that his daughter Arzoo died after falling from a building where her friend's house was located, emphasizing, 'We filed a complaint against the school officials at the police station in Shahre Rey,' 'We complained against the principal. This was not the first time they mistreated my daughter. Last year, they tried to prevent her registration for reasons like why she has many friends or why some of her hair is showing.' Rokna also reported that initial investigations indicated that this 16-year-old girl threw herself from the sixth floor of a building and died after being transferred to the Haft Tir hospital. Other narratives about the school officials' treatment of Arzoo Khavari have been shared on social media. According to some reports, she was a student at 'Kowsar' school in Shahre Rey, and 'the vice principal saw her on the bus wearing a sweatshirt instead of a manteau.' Some sources also reported that the threats against this teenage girl by school officials were due to 'dancing without a hijab.' Reports of Arzoo Khavari's death come almost a year after the killing of Armita Garavand, a teenage student who was pushed by hijab enforcement forces in the Tehran metro. Additionally, in recent days, a student undressed in response to violent encounters with university security and Basij forces at the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Unit, and was subsequently arrested with 'assault' and transferred to a mental health center. During the nationwide protests of 1401 following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, students played a significant role, and schools, especially girls' schools, were among the centers of protests, with several students killed in the suppression of protests.