PHILADELPHIA — Phantom stings crawled along Sarah Eskandari's back.
Her body vividly recalled the burning skin produced from being lashed 10 times by the morality police in Iran for allegedly not covering her hair properly.
It was a traumatic moment that happened about a decade ago. But when Eskandari heard the news about 22-year-old Zhina Masha Amini's suspicious death in the custody of the morality police, for the same alleged offense, the trauma of Eskandari's own experiences again reverberated through her body. The panic attacks when they pulled her into their van to drive her to the police station, the pain of the lashings, the inability to sleep for days afterward.