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Death of Sania Khan

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Sania Khan (1993 – July 18, 2022) was a Pakistani American woman who was murdered by her estranged husband, Raheel Ahmad, in Chicago after she shared her divorce experience on TikTok.[1][2][3][4][5] After killing Khan, Ahmad shot himself when police arrived on the scene and later died from his injuries.[2][4][6][7] Her popularity on social media and the high profile murder put a spotlight on domestic violence and stigmatization of divorce in Pakistani Muslim immigrant communities around the world.[8][9][10][11][12]

Background

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Khan was born in 1993 and was a first-generation child of Pakistani Muslim immigrants.[1][4][13] Khan was born to Haider Farooq Khan and Shazia Khan.[4] Her hometown was Chattanooga, Tennessee[3] where she graduated from the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences.[3] She went on to graduate from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga where she double majored in psychology and women's studies.[3][13]

She married Raheel Ahmad in June 2021 after about five years of dating.[2][3] Khan worked as a photographer and moved to Chicago with her husband after their wedding.[1][2] Khan's friends said that she changed after marrying Ahmad and that he would have mental breakdowns and threatened to kill himself.[2][3] In December 2021, Khan filed for divorce.[3] Ahmad moved to Alpharetta, Georgia, while Khan remained in Chicago.[5] The final divorce hearing was supposed to be in August 2022.[2]

Khan shared her experience filing for divorce through TikTok videos.[1][2][4] Though she was originally hesitant to share the details, she felt she "owed it" to herself and other women of color in similar situations.[14] She also discussed how divorce and domestic violence are taboo topics in the South Asian community and how she had pushback from her some of her own family about her decisions.[1][2][4][15] At the time of her death, Khan had more than 20,000 followers of her TikTok account.[2]

Death

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One of Ahmad's relatives reported him missing to the Alpharetta Police, who then contacted the Chicago police to do a welfare check.[3][4][6] Ahmad had traveled from Alpharetta to Khan's Chicago residence[4][16] where he shot Khan in the back of the head.[2][5][6][17] Ahmad was discovered by police with a 9mm Glock handgun, a suicide note, and a head wound.[4][6] Ahmad was taken to Northwestern Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.[4] Before she was killed, Khan was in the process of moving back to Chattanooga.[3]

Khan's funeral was on July 28, 2022.[16] The costs for her funeral were raised through a GoFundMe campaign which raised over $36,000, well over the required cost.[18] The remaining funds were originally intended to be donated to Sakhi for South Asian Women and the Peaceful Families Project, two South Asian anti-domestic violence organizations, though ultimately the campaign organizer decided to return the funds due to conflict with Khan's family members.

Legacy

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On July 24, 2022, a candlelight vigil was held in Khan's honor at the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences.[7] Friends of Khan, Cora-Leigh O'Neal and James Cummins, started a scholarship fund in her honor[3][7] as The Sania Khan Memorial Scholarship Fund for female students with a GPA of at least 3.5 graduating from the Chattanooga School for Arts & Sciences and who intend to pursue a degree in fine arts at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.[3]

Khan's death sparked an international conversation amongst South Asian social media communities regarding gender-based domestic violence within family and culture.[19][20] Pakistani actresses Ayesha Omar and Dur-e-Fishan Saleem were some of the notable mourners.[21] Many South Asian women used the conversation to share their own stories with domestic violence and cultural shame.[22] Others used the tragedy to offer insight into the dynamics of shame and divorce in South Asian culture while offering resources for victims.[23]

On October 3, 2022, Khan's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her daughter's apartment building, alleging that the building allowed Ahmad into the apartment despite him being banned for being a known serious threat.[24][25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Mansoor, Sanya (July 22, 2022). "South Asian Woman's Killing Sparks Community Reflection". Time. Archived from the original on September 17, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cabral, Sam (August 9, 2022). "Sania Khan: She TikToked her divorce, then her husband killed her". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dzhanova, Yelena. "'A champion of everyone': Friends recall the joy 29-year-old photographer Sania Khan brought to their lives before her ex-husband's darkness led to her murder". Insider. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Iqbal, Anwar (July 22, 2022). "Pakistani woman killed by husband in Chicago murder-suicide". DAWN.COM. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Zaru, Deena (July 23, 2022). "Ex-husband allegedly kills Chicago woman in murder-suicide after she opens up about divorce journey on TikTok". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Schuba, Tom (July 20, 2022). "Georgia man traveled to Chicago and fatally shot ex-wife at Streeterville condo, then killed himself as cops arrived: police". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Koral, Scott (July 25, 2022). "Sania Khan remembered in candlelight vigil by her friends and classmates". WDEF. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  8. ^ Lopez, Sophia (September 16, 2022). "In feminism we trust? What a TikToker's story of domestic abuse says about our culture". The Gauntlet. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  9. ^ Sookai, Usha (August 22, 2022). "Op-ed: I'm Tired of Brown Women Being Raped, Beaten and Killed". Brown Girl Magazine. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  10. ^ Khan, Aalaina (September 2, 2022). "Divorce in South Asia: why we need to talk about the taboo". Palatinate. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  11. ^ Kari, Maria (September 14, 2022). "Sania Khan and Sadia Manzoor are examples of how the justice system fails women". Images. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  12. ^ Ahmad, Shanzeh (July 27, 2022). "Pakistani Muslim photographer killed in murder-suicide amplifies dialogue about divorce and stigma in the South Asian community". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Toomey, Cheryl (January 10, 2014). "New Women's Studies scholarship rewards academic achievement". UTC News. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  14. ^ Ravikumar, Vandana (July 29, 2022). "Photographer documented her divorce on TikTok. Then she was killed in murder-suicide Archived July 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine." Miami Herald. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  15. ^ Sahay, Alisha (July 27, 2022). "TikToker Sania Khan Warned Us About South Asian Divorce Stigma. After Her Death, Will We Finally Wake Up?". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Aguilar, Karen (July 21, 2022). "Friends recall memories of Chattanooga native killed by ex-husband who then killed himself". Local3News.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  17. ^ Ahmad, Shanzeh (July 19, 2022). "Photographer killed in apparent murder-suicide at Gold Coast apartment was open on social media about divorce struggles". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  18. ^ Ke, Brian (July 25, 2022). "Chicago woman killed by ex-husband in murder-suicide after sharing difficulties of divorce in South Asian culture on TikTok Archived September 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine." NextShark. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  19. ^ Shah, Pooja (August 5, 2022). "Sania Khan is not a victim, but an advocate for South Asian women to live life on their own terms Archived September 22, 2022, at the Wayback Machine." Vogue India. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  20. ^ Dzhanova, Yelena. "Sania Khan's death struck a chord with South Asian women because many of them experience domestic violence but rarely report it". Insider. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  21. ^ "Ayesha Omar, Durefishan Saleem mourn Sania Khan". The Express Tribune. July 22, 2022. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  22. ^ Venkatraman, Sakshi (July 26, 2022). "TikToker Sania Khan's killing hits home for divorced South Asian women: 'He would have killed me' Archived September 20, 2022, at the Wayback Machine". NBC News. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  23. ^ Bhat, Jyothsna (August 15, 2022). "The Stigma of Divorce in South Asian Communities." Psychology Today. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  24. ^ Chappell, Kate. (October 4, 2022) "Family of TikToker Sania Khan Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Archived December 3, 2023, at the Wayback Machine". NBC Chicago. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  25. ^ Molina, Tara. (October 4, 2022). "Lawsuit: Estranged husband got into Streeterville building, murdered wife despite management knowing he was dangerous Archived January 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine". CBS Chicago. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
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