Observed Portraits, 1st prize
Victims of Forced Love
Ebrahim Noroozi
18 December, 2012
Somayeh Mehri (29) and Rana Afghanipour (3) are a mother and daughter living in Bam, southern Iran. They were attacked with acid by Somayeh’s husband Amir.
Ebrahim Noroozi
Ebrahim Noroozi (b. 1980) is a photographer from Tehran, Iran who began his professional career as a photographer with a domestic news agency in Iran. From 2008 to 2012,...
Bam, Iran
Somayeh Mehri, before she was attacked with acid.
Somayeh Mehri (29) and Rana Afghanipour (3) are a mother and daughter living in Bam, southern Iran. They were attacked with acid by Somayeh’s husband Amir. Somayeh had frequently been beaten and locked up by her husband, and finally found the courage to ask for a divorce. Amir warned her that if she persisted in her attempts to leave him, she would not live out life with the face she had.
One night in June 2011, he poured acid on Somayeh and Rana as they slept. Somayeh’s and Rana’s faces, hands, and, in places, their bodies were severely burned. Somayeh was blinded, and Rana lost one of her eyes. Somayeh’s father sold his land in order to raise money to pay their medical expenses, and fellow villagers have also helped.
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