On February 21, 1994, a gesticulating and screaming woman entered a crowded public square in Tehran, removed her government-mandated veil and full coat, poured gasoline on her body and lit herself on fire. The crowd watched in horror as this woman, who had shouted, "Death to tyranny Long live freedom ," committed a slow, painful suicide in a last, desperate attempt to make the world aware of the slavelike conditions of women living in Iran.
A shockwave was felt in the American medical and feminist communities as well as in the Iranian political regime when the media reported that the...