Saudi Arabia Turns Blind Eye To Rising Youth Suicide Rates
A young Saudi man's March 2012 public suicide was caught on video. Madawi Al Rasheed writes that in line with its policy of denial, the regime’s response has been to blame the victim, invoking psychological disorders and Western influence in an attempt to depoliticize the wave of public suicides and ignore the demands of Saudi Arabia's youth.
In March 2012, a young Saudi man jumped off a bridge in central Riyadh. Video footage of the scene not only confirmed that his suicide was a public act, but also triggered a wide debate in the media and the recent release of alarming statistics by the Ministry of the Interior. Suicide, particularly among young men and women, is indeed on the rise in this conservative and pious kingdom where the only justified reason for deliberately killing oneself is martyrdom in the name of God, though ulamas (scholars of Islamic law) strongly disagree among themselves about jihadi suicide bombers.
In line with its well-rehearsed policy of denial, the regime’s response to this new phenomenon has been to blame the victim, invoking psychological disorders, the weakening of religious belief under the influence of Western culture, drug addiction and alcohol abuse.
