Sisi tops trending Twitter list for causes of suicide in Egypt December 9, 2019 at 3:16 pm | Published in: Africa , Egypt , News Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi [Egyptian President Office/Apaimages] December 9, 2019 at 3:16 pm Egyptian activists have launched the Arabic hashtag “suicide has spread because of” and posted top reasons why more people are killing themselves in Egypt.
Top of the list was the repression overseen by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on all members of the opposition in Egypt.
After the September protests authorities arrested over 4,000 people in one month.
Economic and social deterioration, poverty, corruption, injustice, job insecurity, homelessness, and lack of freedom were also posted as leading causes.
Nader Mohamed, 20, threw himself from the top of Cairo Tower [Facebook]
The trending hashtag comes after the widely shared story of a 20-year-old Egyptian engineering student Mohamed Nader threw himself from the top of Cairo Tower in the beginning of December after informing his friend he was going through a psychological crisis.
According to Elwatannews a student at Beni Suef University tried to commit suicide over the weekend though he was discovered in time and taken to hospital.
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Suicide rates have shot up in the last two years as the cost of living and the unemployment rate have skyrocketed as the government rolls out an austerity programme across the country as per the terms of a 2016 IMF loan.
Twenty-five per cent of Egyptians suffer from mental illness due to the rate of poverty which has pushed 60 per cent to consider suicide, according to the Egyptian National Centre for Criminal and Social Studies.
More than 150 25-30-year-olds have committed suicide in the last eight months, according to the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms.
Authorities have been criticised for their response to suicides in the country after last year the metro’s spokesman said that railway-related suicide attempts disrupt the lives of millions of citizens.
Member of the Egyptian House of Representatives Mostafa Bakry has said that the engineering student who jumped from the top of Cairo Tower was part of the Muslim Brotherhood and committed suicide to fuel protests against the Sisi government.
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