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{{Short description|2022 murder of Pakistani American woman}}
{{Short description|2022 murder of Pakistani American woman}}
'''Sania Khan''' (~1993 - July 18, 2022) was a [[Pakistani Americans|Pakistani American]] woman who was [[Murder|murdered]] by her estranged husband, Raheel Ahmad, in [[Chicago]] after she shared her [[divorce]] experience on [[TikTok]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mansoor |first=Sanya |date=22 July 2022 |title=South Asian Woman's Killing Sparks Community Reflection |url=https://time.com/6199574/sania-khan-murder-tiktok-stigma-divorce/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Time |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Cabral |first=Sam |date=2022-08-09 |title=Sania Khan: She TikToked her divorce, then her husband killed her |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62427084 |access-date=2022-09-16}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Dzhanova |first=Yelena |title='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 |url=https://www.insider.com/sania-khan-feared-her-ex-husband-before-her-murder-friends-2022-7 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Iqbal |first=Anwar |date=2022-07-22 |title=Pakistani woman killed by husband in Chicago murder-suicide |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1700975 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Zaru |first=Deena |date=23 July 2022 |title=Ex-husband allegedly kills Chicago woman in murder-suicide after she opens up about divorce journey on TikTok |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/husband-allegedly-kills-chicago-woman-murder-suicide-opens/story?id=87208401 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> After killing Khan, Ahmad shot himself when police arrived on the scene and later died from his injuries.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Schuba |first=Tom |date=2022-07-20 |title=Georgia man traveled to Chicago and fatally shot ex-wife at Streeterville condo, then killed himself as cops arrived: police |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/7/19/23270257/georgia-man-fatally-shot-wife-streeterville-condo-killed-himself-as-cops-arrived-police-reports |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Koral |first=Scott |date=2022-07-25 |title=Sania Khan remembered in candlelight vigil by her friends and classmates |url=https://www.wdef.com/sania-khan-remembered-in-candlelight-vigil-by-her-friends-and-classmates/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=WDEF |language=en-US}}</ref> Her popularity on social media and the high profile murder put a spotlight on domestic violence and stigmatization of divorce in [[South Asian Americans|South Asian immigrant]] communities around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Sophia |date=2022-09-16 |title=In feminism we trust? What a TikToker’s story of domestic abuse says about our culture |url=https://thegauntlet.ca/2022/09/16/in-feminism-we-trust-what-a-tiktokers-story-of-domestic-abuse-says-about-our-culture/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=The Gauntlet |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sookai |first=Usha |last2= |first2= |date=2022-08-22 |title=Op-ed: I’m Tired of Brown Women Being Raped, Beaten and Killed |url=https://browngirlmagazine.com/op-ed-im-tired-of-brown-women-being-raped-beaten-and-killed/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Brown Girl Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Aalaina |date=2022-09-02 |title=Divorce in South Asia: why we need to talk about the taboo |url=https://www.palatinate.org.uk/divorce-in-south-asia-why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-taboo/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Palatinate |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kari |first=Maria |date=2022-09-14 |title=Sania Khan and Sadia Manzoor are examples of how the justice system fails women |url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1190817 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Images |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahmad |first=Shanzeh |date=July 27, 2022 |title=Pakistani Muslim photographer killed in murder-suicide amplifies dialogue about divorce and stigma in the South Asian community |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-photographer-sania-khan-murder-suicide-south-asian-struggles-20220727-ua3q7wylu5h45cycwur77roje4-story.html |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>
'''Sania Khan''' (June 14, 1993 - July 18, 2022) was a [[Pakistani Americans|Pakistani American]] woman who was [[Murder|murdered]] by her estranged husband, Raheel Ahmad, in [[Chicago]] after she shared her [[divorce]] experience on [[TikTok]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mansoor |first=Sanya |date=22 July 2022 |title=South Asian Woman's Killing Sparks Community Reflection |url=https://time.com/6199574/sania-khan-murder-tiktok-stigma-divorce/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Time |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Cabral |first=Sam |date=2022-08-09 |title=Sania Khan: She TikToked her divorce, then her husband killed her |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62427084 |access-date=2022-09-16}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Dzhanova |first=Yelena |title='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 |url=https://www.insider.com/sania-khan-feared-her-ex-husband-before-her-murder-friends-2022-7 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Iqbal |first=Anwar |date=2022-07-22 |title=Pakistani woman killed by husband in Chicago murder-suicide |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1700975 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Zaru |first=Deena |date=23 July 2022 |title=Ex-husband allegedly kills Chicago woman in murder-suicide after she opens up about divorce journey on TikTok |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/husband-allegedly-kills-chicago-woman-murder-suicide-opens/story?id=87208401 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> After killing Khan, Ahmad shot himself when police arrived on the scene and later died from his injuries.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Schuba |first=Tom |date=2022-07-20 |title=Georgia man traveled to Chicago and fatally shot ex-wife at Streeterville condo, then killed himself as cops arrived: police |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/7/19/23270257/georgia-man-fatally-shot-wife-streeterville-condo-killed-himself-as-cops-arrived-police-reports |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Koral |first=Scott |date=2022-07-25 |title=Sania Khan remembered in candlelight vigil by her friends and classmates |url=https://www.wdef.com/sania-khan-remembered-in-candlelight-vigil-by-her-friends-and-classmates/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=WDEF |language=en-US}}</ref> Her popularity on social media and the high profile murder put a spotlight on domestic violence and stigmatization of divorce in [[South Asian Americans|South Asian immigrant]] communities around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Sophia |date=2022-09-16 |title=In feminism we trust? What a TikToker’s story of domestic abuse says about our culture |url=https://thegauntlet.ca/2022/09/16/in-feminism-we-trust-what-a-tiktokers-story-of-domestic-abuse-says-about-our-culture/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=The Gauntlet |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sookai |first=Usha |last2= |first2= |date=2022-08-22 |title=Op-ed: I’m Tired of Brown Women Being Raped, Beaten and Killed |url=https://browngirlmagazine.com/op-ed-im-tired-of-brown-women-being-raped-beaten-and-killed/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Brown Girl Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Aalaina |date=2022-09-02 |title=Divorce in South Asia: why we need to talk about the taboo |url=https://www.palatinate.org.uk/divorce-in-south-asia-why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-taboo/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Palatinate |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kari |first=Maria |date=2022-09-14 |title=Sania Khan and Sadia Manzoor are examples of how the justice system fails women |url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1190817 |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Images |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahmad |first=Shanzeh |date=July 27, 2022 |title=Pakistani Muslim photographer killed in murder-suicide amplifies dialogue about divorce and stigma in the South Asian community |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-photographer-sania-khan-murder-suicide-south-asian-struggles-20220727-ua3q7wylu5h45cycwur77roje4-story.html |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>


== Background ==
== Background ==

Revision as of 15:39, 12 October 2022

Sania Khan (June 14, 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 South Asian immigrant communities around the world.[8][9][10][11][12]

Background

Khan was born in Canada in the on June 14th 1993 and was a first-generation child of Pakistani Muslim immigrants.[1][4][13] Haider Farooq Khan is Sania Khan's father.[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 where she double majored in psychology and women's studies.[3][13]https://saniakphoto.wixsite.com/itssaniak Sania khan was also a flight attendant for spirit airlines from ~2019-2021 with her base being Dallas Texas and the DFW airport This job was taken so she could Kickstart her photography career.


Raheel Ahmad and Khan got married 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 ot

her women

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

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 around 10:00am to 11:00am CST 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

On July 24, 2022 a candlelight vigil was held in Khan's honor in 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.[3]

Khan's death sparked an international conversation amongst South Asians and due to the great cultural soft power the south asian community holds within the muslim community it extended to imans and religious leaders like yasir qadhi and omar Sulemans VRIC (Valley Ranch Islamic Center) Also south asian social media communities addressed the topic 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]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  5. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  6. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  7. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  13. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  14. ^ Ravikumar, Vandana (29 July 2022). "Photographer documented her divorce on TikTok. Then she was killed in murder-suicide." Miami Herald. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  15. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  16. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  17. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  18. ^ Ke, Brian (25 July 2022). "Chicago woman killed by ex-husband in murder-suicide after sharing difficulties of divorce in South Asian culture on TikTok." NextShark. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  19. ^ Shah, Pooja (05 August 2022). "Sania Khan is not a victim, but an advocate for South Asian women to live life on their own terms." Vogue India. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  20. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  21. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2083: attempt to index a boolean value.
  22. ^ Venkatraman, Sakshi (26 July 2022). "TikToker Sania Khan's killing hits home for divorced South Asian women: 'He would have killed me'". NBC News. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  23. ^ Bhat, Jyothsna (15 August 2022). "The Stigma of Divorce in South Asian Communities." Psychology Today. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
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