Egypt: Medical student jumps from building as suicides increase at alarming rate

A second-year medical student in Egypt has committed suicide by throwing himself from the fourth floor of the university in Six October city.

The deceased left a message behind: “Sorry, forgive me, and thank you for everything.”

It follows a recent spate of suicides in Egypt after a fourth-year dental student threw herself off the sixth floor of City Stars shopping mall in Nasr City last week.

Her friend told local media that she could no longer bear the pressure her family was putting on her to stop her from leaving the house. The 23-year-old was severely depressed and had told friends she was suicidal.

Around the same time, a 60-year-old man threw himself under a train in the underground station of Maadi.

In 2018, following a rise in the number of people committing suicide by jumping in front of trains, Egypt’s Cairo Metro Company stirred outrage when it called on people with suicidal tendencies to keep away from stations.

It is not the place for the “psychologically disturbed” to “delay the lives of millions of citizens,” said Metro spokesman Abdel Hady.

“The weak-spirited head to metro stations and attempt to take their own lives by throwing themselves in front of trains, as they are the fastest means of transport in Cairo.”

READ: Egypt raises train platform ticket price by 300%

In August, a student who failed his high school exams shot himself in the head in Hadayek Al-Qubba and became the eighth student to commit suicide after receiving their exam results.

Amongst them were Samah, an 18-year-old student, who hung herself in her room in Kerdasa whilst another poisoned herself in Menoufia.

There is also increasing news of suicides or suicidal tendencies among political prisoners in despair at the conditions in which they are kept.

In August the second political prisoner in a month, Abdulrahman Tariq known as Mocha, tried to commit suicide in Tora Prison.

In July blogger Mohamed Ibrahim attempted suicide after being denied family visits for 15 months and being denied access to the money his family was sending him for food.

Also this year, 15-year-old Abdullah Boumediene from Arish in North Sinai overdosed on pills after being detained for three years from the age of 12. He was saved but remains in prison.

Last year the family of detained Egyptian activist Alaa Abdelfattah released a statement to say he was suicidal after two years in pretrial detention.