Forced begging drives child to suicide

CAIRO – 26 June 2017: A 12 year-old child committed suicide in Al-Haram after his father forced him to go begging with him. The local prosecution authority investigated the case.

Investigations started when Major Mohamed el-Sagheer, head of Al-Haram Police Investigation Department, received a report that 12 year-old Mohamed M. died in his place of residence. The investigations team found that the child had hung himself on the door of one of the rooms where he lived.

The child took his own life after his blind father, who repeatedly asked him to beg with him, forced him to join him. A case report was filed to higher authorities.

Hatem Zaher, head of Nour Zyada for Child Psychiatry, suggested to Egypt Independent this year “that over 100 children commit suicide annually, but they are recorded as accidental deaths instead.”

Over the past few years, the Egyptian media reported several cases of child suicide – the latest was when a 15 year-old male in Minya governorate drank insecticide in February.