Observed Portraits, 1st prize
Victims of Forced Love
Ebrahim Noroozi
23 December, 2012
Somayeh Mehri (29) and Rana Afghanipour 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,...
Tehran, Iran
Somayeh Mehri (29) receives treatment at the Farabi Eye Hospital in Tehran.
Somayeh and Rana Afghanipour (3) were attacked with acid by Somayeh’s husband Amir, in June 2011. 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 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. Each week Somayeh and Rana travel some 1,300 km from their home town to the Iranian capital for treatment.
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