60-year-old mother sets herself on fire in Iran

Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 27 – A 60-year-old mother of six set herself on fire in Iran, with her family blaming it on stress and her social surroundings.
The elderly woman only identified by her first name, Zahra, lived in the western Iranian city of Ilam with her husband for the past 40 years. Iran Focus

Tehran, Dec. 27 – A 60-year-old mother of six set herself on fire in Iran, with her family blaming it on stress and her social surroundings.

The elderly woman only identified by her first name, Zahra, lived in the western Iranian city of Ilam with her husband for the past 40 years.

Her family said that they went to sleep the night before in a calm atmosphere, awaking the next morning at the sound of Zahra’s daughter-in-law screaming, who was witnessing her mother-in-law immolating herself.

According to her family, Zahra had used petrol to set herself alight.

Despite immediately being rushed to the intensive care unit of the local hospital, Zahra was pronounced dead within two hours of the incident with 90 percent of her body burnt.

Iran holds the highest suicide rate amongst women in the world.