16-year-old Afghan commits suicide after school police her dressing, threatened expulsion

A 16-year-old Afghan student, identified as Arezou Khavari, tragically took her own life on Nov. 3, 2024, in Shahr-e Rey, Tehran. The incident reportedly followed an expulsion threat from school officials over non-adherence with the school’s dress code during a school field trip.

The assistant principal reprimanded the Grade 11 student at Kosar School in Shahr-e Rey’s District 20 after she and her classmates removed their coats on the bus, although they continued to wear scarves and had drawn the curtains. 

The assistant principal reportedly warned the students that they would not be allowed on future trips due to that behaviour. This incident escalated when the assistant principal informed the principal, who summoned Khavari’s parents to the school, citing her “wearing jeans, removing her coat, and dancing on the bus” as inappropriate conduct.

According to Dadban, an Iranian organisation, the principal warned Arezou and her family that she would be expelled if they failed to meet at the school the next day. Sources reported that these threats deeply impacted Arezou’s mental state, leading her to leave school that day on a pretext. She jumped from the sixth floor of a residential building, where she sustained severe injuries in the incident and was taken to a nearby hospital called Seventh Tir Hospital, where she later passed away.

A reliable source told Dadban that this was not the first time Khavari had been threatened with expulsion. They added that the school’s principal, Ms. Mahnaz Ghanbarian, had surveillance monitors in her office to view all school exits. The source questioned why no intervention was made when Khavari left the premises, suggesting that timely action from staff might have prevented her death.

Following Khavari’s suicide, reports indicate that school officials made no effort to console her peers. Iranian officials have confirmed the incident and are conducting an investigation. 

The Iranian 7Sobh news agency reports that Arezou’s father has filed a complaint against the school authorities, particularly the principal, whom he holds accountable for his daughter’s death. He stated that this was not the first time the school authorities treated his daughter unkindly and inappropriately.