In late 2007 Iran instituted one of it's periodic crackdowns to enforce its strict Islamic dress codes. This led to the death on October 13, 2007, of 27 year-old Dr. Zahra Bani Yaghoub in Hamadan Prison. Zahra was walking with her fiance when Iranian morals police arrested the couple. "This was considered by the Iranian judiciary to be a breach of modesty laws because the two were not yet married." (Wikipedia). They were taken to prison, where Zahra died in custody the next day. Iranian officials claimed she had committed suicide by hanging herself. Her fiance had been released an hour after being arrested, but Dr. Yaghoub was kept in prison overnight. Her family insisted that Zahra had no reason to kill herself - she was happy and was excited by her work as a volunteer physician. Her brother had talked by phone with her just a few minutes before she supposedly killed herself and said there was no indication she was comtemplating suicide. When her body was returned to the family, they said it was bruised and that there was blood in her nose and ears. Her family believes she was murdered by the police. Mehrangiz Kar, an Iranian born human rights lawyer now wisely living in the United States, has said "Who, how, and why could push such a young girl - one who had a bright future ahead of her - to the point of anxiety and despair? No matter what has happened, the authorities are responsible for this death." The case reminded many people of the earlier murder of Iranian-Canadian photo-journalist Zahra Kazemi, who was also in police custody when killed. Many others were arrested during the crackdown for such offenses as wearing Western clothes or hairdos. "There are many cases in Iran when young men and women have been arrested for walking together. However, most of them were later released after paying a fine or receiving other punishments such as flogging." (RadioFreeEurope article of November 23, 2007 by Farangis Najibullah). If Dr. Yaghoub was murdered, she wouldn't be the only doctor killed under questionable circumstances. Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani (26 years-old) had treated injured demon- strators during protests in 2009. Later, on November 10, 2009, his death was announced. Iranian authorities first said he died in a car accident, then said he had committed suicide, then said he had died of a heart attack before deciding he had died of poisoning from a delivery salad laced with an overdose of blood pressure medication. Iranian authorities prohibited Pourandarjani's family from getting an autopsy. The young doctor had worked at Kahrizak jail, where the police had been accused of having tortured and raped detainees from the protests. The physican told friends he had been warned not to talk about what he had seen at the jail and that he feared for his safety.
