Tragic Death of "Brilliant" Iranian Graduate Student

with additional reporting by Sahar Bayati

In the early hours of Thursday, March 6th, a young man aged 26 passed away in Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He had suffered third degree burns after fighting for his life for more than a month. His name was Saamer Akhshabi. He was a final year doctoral candidate at Georgia Institute of Technology and a graduate of the University of Tehran. He arrived in the United States in 2009 to pursue his studies. In many ways, his life encapsulated the challenges, passions and misunderstandings that shape many an average Iranian life abroad.

Saamer’s burns were a result of an explosion that that took place in his bedroom on the afternoon of February 4th. There were reports that investigators had found a suspected Molotov cocktail and several plastic bottles filled with gasoline and kerosene at his apartment.

Nobody knows exactly what happened on the afternoon of February 4th. Saamer’s roommate told IranWire that they had emptied fuel out of a friend’s motorcycle, which Saamer had planned to ship to his home country. They did not have a fuel container so used empty soda bottles, improvising like many would do. One bottle did not have a lid, so they used a piece of clothing to cover it. This was probably what made it look like a Molotov cocktail.

Saamer had arrived home at 4:00 p.m. after talking to his American girlfriend. He told her he would grab some beer from his apartment and then join her soon after. He took one of the containers and went to his room. After a few minutes smoke and heat emerged from the room. His roommate tried to open the door but it was locked. Valuable time was lost while his roommate called the police and tried to get into the room. By the time he broke down the door, it was already too late. Saamer had suffered third degree burns over 90 per cent of his body. 

Full of Promise

Prior to this, Saamer Akhshabi’s story bears resemblance to the lives of other young talented Iranian students who study in American or European universities. He hailed from a normal Iranian household and relied on his sharp intellect and commitment to excel at his research. He was born in Tonekabon in northern Iran, close to the Caspian Sea. His parents were both middle school teachers who mentored him as a child. He was accepted into Iran’s oldest academic institution, the University of Tehran, where he studied computer engineering and graduated summa cum laude in 2009.

In the autumn of the same year he moved to Atlanta, where he enrolled at Georgia Tech to study computer engineering as a doctoral student under Professor Constantine Dovrolis’s tutelage. Dovrolis described him a brilliant student and a young promising researcher. In his first year at Georgia Tech Saamer wrote a paper on internet architecture titled “An experimental evaluation of rate-adaptation algorithms in adaptive streaming over HTTP”, which has been cited close to 200 times by other researchers. The article appeared in print in Persian in Tehran as well, published by the daily Jaam e Jam. Dovrlis added that Saamer was also interested in interdisciplinary studies incorporating biology and computer sciences.

It’s obvious from the many statements issued by the university’s faculty and administration that the Georgia Tech community genuinely mourns the loss of this exemplary student. Chair Lance Fortnow called Saamer’s death “a terrible tragedy that has deeply affected everyone in the School of Computer Science”, adding that “Saamer was an excellent Ph.D. student, not far from graduating, whose influential research has been published at the top venues in computer networking. Saamer represented the best of the School, the College and Georgia Tech, and his loss will always be with us." Dean Zvi Galil commented on Saamer’s bravery and courage.  “Saamer’s initial prognosis was very bad, but he fought for more than a month. Our faculty and students visited him regularly, often staying for hours at a time. This was an excellent, promising student, and all of us in the College deeply mourn him.” 

After his death, Georgia Tech held a memorial event for Saamer, which was well attended, testifying to the respect and friendship he had inspired during his short stay at Georgia Tech. Saamer’s parents, who had traveled from Iran to attend, spoke to his classmates using a translator. One of the most touching scenes during the ceremony was when Saamer’s friends and classmates expressed their sorrow to Saamer’s parents.  

Media Agendas

For his friends, family and colleagues, Saamer’s death was felt as a tragic loss, yet it seems that because of his nationality, Saamer’s death, and the details surrounding it, have met with considerable suspicion.

Several conservative media outlets assumed the worst: one Fox News headline read: “Iranian Student Caught Making Bombs at Georgia Tech”, and the UK’s Daily Mail announced: “Iranian Student Burns Himself to Death With Molotov Cocktail”.

Several non-mainstream conservative bloggers have actually celebrated Saamer’s death. The fact that Saamer had posted comments in favor of Obamacare and gun control on Twitter did not endear him to them either. 

On the day he died, Robert Connolly, interim police chief for Georgia Tech, said in an email statement that his team had “worked closely with other law enforcement agencies during the investigation of this tragic incident”, adding that "the FBI has relayed that, to date, they have not developed any information or evidence indicating criminal intent in this investigation." IranWire contacted Elaine Kuligowski, the officer in charge of Saamer’s case, but she said she had no further information about the case. Saamer’s friends told IranWire that, after several hours of interviews with his roommate and other associated individuals, law enforcement agents were satisfied that no further lines of enquiry needed to be pursued. This might be what is called “a freak incident”. But because it happened to an Iranian, imaginations have run wild, and some in the blogosphere have expressed incredulity that the investigation has come to and end.

But it’s not only Western media that used the tragedy as a means of pushing a particular ideological agenda. Iran’s conservative outlets have added their own angle to this horrific story. Tabnak reported that Saamer was attacked by a Molotov cocktail. A website reported that people threw Molotov cocktails at Saamer’s apartment. The website Saafir Iran reported that Saamer had been assassinated by a rival company [Saamer had worked with Cisco on projects], saying the Ph.D student was on the verge of revolutionizing the worldwide internet network. Iranian opposition websites have reported Saamer as an anti-regime student who had fallen victim to machinations of the Islamic Republic. 

To some of Saamer’s friends, the incident sounded like suicide. But one of them spoke to IranWire, and said there had been no reason for him to want to take his own life. He was about to defend his doctoral thesis in less than two months and, with 264 citations for his scholarly work, it was likely that he would land the job of his dreams teaching in a small college town. He had a diverse group of friends and was well liked by students of all nationalities on campus. Everyone we spoke to described Saamer as a kind, energetic and sociable individual without any political affiliations.

A Family of Friends

There is much more humanity in this story than one might imagine. Saamer’s tragic death has brought the Iranian and Iranian American communities in Atlanta closer together. His friends and members of the community raised money so Saamer’s parents could travel to the States to be by his side. They arrived in Atlanta a week before his death. The Iranian Student Association (ISA) at Georgia Tech invited a psychologist to talk to its members about the stress of living in a foreign country. Georgia Tech administration set up counseling services for those students who want to talk to someone about the tragedy.

According to a speech at the memorial service, on the day of the accident, Saamer said that he very much wanted to return to his hometown, Tonekabon. After his death his friends were galvanized into action and they launched a fundraising campaign to return his body to Iran. In less than four days, the necessary amount had been raised. Shiva, one of the student organizers of the campaign, wrote on her Facebook page: “Most of the donations came from faculty and professionals, all students contributed too”. ISA member Parsa expressed surprise: “We did not expect to raise this amount in such a short time." Any funds left over will be donated to Georgia Tech for international students who are experiencing financial hardship. 

Few people impact their communities as Saamer did. True, some cast doubt on the cause of his death and his intentions. But many saw this tragedy as an opportunity to act according to the common values of humanity. As a tribute to the life of a young researcher who wanted to help people through his research, nothing less should be expected.