Dealing With Suicide Becomes a Political Issue in Jordan
Public suicide attempts criminalized as their use for protest mounts
Jordanian officials are struggling to deal with an increase in suicides and attempted suicides as unemployment continues to plague a country that has little in terms of natural resources.
Both houses of Jordan’s Parliament have approved a controversial amendment to the Penal Code that will allow judges to imprison persons who attempt to commit suicide in a public location. Jordanian officials believe that most suicide attempts are public displays of protest rather than genuine efforts at ending one’s life.
The Senate approved the bill Tuesday after a strong plea by Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, who argued that the country has an obligation to protect the lives of its citizens. It was already approved by the House of Representatives.
“Jordan’s official religion is Islam and that all heavenly religions reject suicide or any attempt to take one’s life,” Khasawneh said.
Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Oman all have similar laws, the prime minister said.
Khasawneh said that normally a judge would order a psychological examination and, if he is convinced that the person has mental problems, he is allowed to reduce the punishment.
The prime minister insisted that most attempts at suicide are not serious.
“Experts say that serious attempts at suicide are shrouded in secrecy, which is the opposite of someone trying to carry it out in a public setting with the clear aim of wanting to bring attention to a particular case,” he said.
Jordan’s official religion is Islam and that all heavenly religions reject suicide or any attempt to take one’s life
Jordan’s Justice Minister Ahmad Ziadat said the Penal Code amendment to criminalize attempted suicide in a public location is designed to protect both society and the person who is attempting to commit suicide.
Ziadat told the Senate Tuesday that attempted suicide in a private home is not punishable under the amendment because it is difficult to know about it and it doesn’t cause harm to society. The minister added that the prison term can be replaced, according to Jordanian law, by paying JD 5 ($7.04) for every day of the sentence that the judge issues.
But Senator Rajai Muasher, a former deputy prime minister, called on the government to replace the prison punishment with alternative penalties.
The lower house had voted in April to “imprison for up to six months anyone who attempts to carry out suicide in a public place.” The punishment was to be doubled if the offense was a “collective decision.”
Abdallah Rawhneh, an unemployed youth in the Madaba Governorate, told the Media Line the amendment is an attempt to silence protesters so desperate that they have to threaten suicide to get people to pay attention to their plight.
In 2021, 167 Jordanians – 125 males and 42 females – killed themselves, according to a report by Dr. Raed Momani of the National Center for Forensic Medicine (NCFM). The independent Al Ghad daily reported that among them were 23 youths –13 girls and 10 boys – ages 12-17.
Suicide was carried out mostly by hanging (93), self-immolation (20), jumping from a high place (19), shooting (18) or using pesticides (16).
Ahmad Awad, director of the Amman-based Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies, told The Media Line the change to the Penal Code is yet another instrument for the government to restrict workers’ protests.
A person threatening suicide needs social and psychological treatment, not imprisonment, he said. The government is trying to prevent protests at the time when the economy is getting worse, he added.
According to the April 20 Jordanian Worker’s Monitor that Awad oversees: “In 2021, Jordan witnessed 225 protest actions, 13% of which came from persons who have no jobs.” The report also noted that, in the same period, four of the protests (about 2%) included threats of suicide.
Protests have focused on the extremely difficult living conditions and low incomes, much of it exacerbated by the lockdowns and other negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Defense orders issued by the Jordanian government allowed employers to deduct as much as 30%-50% of workers’ salaries while ordering employers not to fire anyone.
In a live social media broadcast, unemployed workers in Madaba threatened to commit suicide. In Karak, an unemployed worker carried out the threat of suicide on November 24 as he fell from the historic Karak Castle.
Professor of sociology Hussein al Khozahe told The Media Line that this amendment is “hasty and dangerous” and it will have bad social and economic effects on society while not solving the basic problem. “Throwing persons attempting suicide into jail will let them meet real criminals and, once they are released, they will be more likely to commit crimes,” he said.
On average, there are five attempted suicides for every successful suicide, “which means we have about a thousand attempted suicides annually. But the prisons are already overcrowded by 140%,” Khozahe added.
Suicides and attempted suicides are on the increase, he noted. “In 2011 there were 39 suicides and 200 attempts while in 2021 there were 176 suicides and 493 attempts in public. This increase needs to be looked into.” The professor suggested painting Amman’s Wadi Abdoun Bridge green after the success of a similar painting of Blackfriars Bridge in London, which had witnessed a large number of suicides and saw the numbers go down after the color change.
The most at-risk group under the Penal Code amendment are married people, because if they go to jail it will contribute to further family disintegration and society will pay a price for that, Khozahe said. Raed Hadid, a former head of the National Center for Forensic Medicine, said the criminalization of attempted suicide is aimed at bringing attention to the issue.
“We need to deal with the causes of this phenomenon not to add punishment,” he said.
Hadid said he would have preferred mandatory psychological treatment rather than imprisonment in such cases.
