Iranian authority: Instead of self-immolation, women should swallow plaster, die from shortness of breath

"A statement like that reveals why women lose all hope in a country like Iran. Instead of offering education, preventative measures, [and] constructive interventions, authorities want people to die in silence, without causing them much trouble."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – An Iranian official on Wednesday said women are better off swallowing plaster and dying from a shortness of breath than setting their bodies on fire.

Mohammad Javad Fatemi, head of the Iranian Burn Patients Support Association, told state media that some 30,000 burn victims are currently hospitalized in Iran.

He added that the real number is much higher, but hospitals cannot admit all patients.

His solution was that if women who want to commit suicide swallow plaster they would quickly die and would not suffer as much pain as burn victims do.

Outraged activists said the “so-called solution is more painful than the reports of increasing rates of suicide.”

“A statement like that reveals why women lose all hope in a country like Iran,” a Kurdish activist, who asked to remain anonymous, told Kurdistan 24. “Human life means nothing in Iran, especially when you are a woman from an ethnic minority.”

“Instead of offering education, preventative measures, [and] constructive interventions, authorities want people to die in silence, without causing them much trouble,” the activist added.

Iran has some of the highest rates of female self-immolation in the world, but its Kurdish region has the most alarming rates.

These include the Kurdish provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Lorestan as well as the Turkmen-dominated areas in the provinces of Gulistan and Bushehr.

According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK), in the past nine months, at least 78 people in the Kurdish region of Iran committed suicide.

A crippling economy and soaring prices, lack of prospect for a better future, and profound disappointments in life are said to be among the main reasons for suicide.

Local media have reported that girls as young as 8 and 10 set their bodies on fire.

Women in Iran have the highest rates of suicide in the world after China and India.

Poverty, the lack of education surrounding mental health issues, the lack of preventative measures regarding suicide, Kurds’ distrust in authorities, the patriarchy deeply rooted in the Kurdish and Iranian culture, and misogyny in Iranian family laws are among the leading reasons women find no other option but to end their lives.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany