BANGLADESHI diplomats have stepped up counselling support to their nationals amidst a spate of deaths, including a gruesome suicide that was broadcast live on social media.
Bangladesh Embassy labour consul Shaikh Tahidul Islam said that more than 50 per cent of suicides in his community were due to “personal issues” followed by financial problems.
Filmed
Twenty-three people have been reported to have taken their own life in Bahrain so far this year, including 21 expatriates with the latest being an Indian national who hanged himself in his accommodation in Manama on Monday.
In one of the latest incidents of suicide in Bahrain, Bangladeshi national Sohid Fazlu, a 30-year-old real estate employee, filmed the act live on Facebook as hundreds of people, including his friends and family, watched.
He reportedly did this when a woman in his hometown of Comilla rejected his marriage proposal.
The woman, who was on the line with him while the video was being broadcast live, can be heard screaming and urging Mr Fazlu not to go through with it, even being forced to accept his proposal.
Comments from viewers, including “likes”, flooded the page during the three minutes it took Mr Fazlu to take his last breath.
Gruesome
His death, in his home in Riffa on May 26, along with two other suicides among Bangladeshis on May 19 and June 15, happened alongside two murders in May that also involved Bangladeshi nationals.
“We knew about (Mr Fazlu’s) suicide on the same day, but these gruesome details emerged only the next day,” Mr Isalm told the GDN.
“It is obvious that he took his life for personal reasons, which seems to be the case in more than 50pc of the suicides in our community, and the rest being financial issues.
“It is alarming and we are troubled to find that our community is going through a lot of mental stress.
“We have increased our efforts in reaching out to them through social media and we are also using community volunteers to step up counselling support.”
The other two Bangladeshi nationals who committed suicide are delivery driver Saddam Toiyobur, 31, who hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his accommodation in Muharraq on May19; and Sujiy Dey who also hanged himself on June 15 in his home in Tubli.
Mr Dey had previously attempted to take his own life and had expressed despair at not being able to financially support his family.
“(Mr Dey’s) sponsor reported him to the police after he attempted to jump from the top floor of a property under construction the previous day,” added Mr Islam.
“We don’t know why he was allowed to leave and the next day he hanged himself in his room.
“He had been telling his friends, and also at the police station, that he could not earn enough money to support his family back home.
“We are surprised that he was not referred for counselling by the sponsor or the police.”
The diplomat also said that the two murders reported within the Bangladeshi community reflected the “stress and frustration” among his people.
Three Bangladeshi men will appear in court later this month for allegedly murdering a fellow national Samsul Moushed, 42, over a financial dispute.
He was killed following an altercation with the three men at his home in Daih on May 22.
Another Bangladeshi man, 35-year-old Solayman Miah, was also murdered by a fellow national in the same week.
He was killed by being repeatedly struck in the head with a hammer at his home in Tubli on May 18.
Stress
“This is a sad state and all of these deaths reflect the mental stress that these men are going through,” said Mr Islam.
“We are not supporting any kind of criminal activity and we pledge our support to the Bahrain government in its efforts to catch these men who damage the country’s reputation.”
Bangladeshis make up the second largest expatriate community in Bahrain, accounting for around 200,000 of the country’s total population.
The GDN reported on Sunday that thousands of Bangladeshi nationals were returning to their home country every month since late last year.
Mr Islam said at the time that no Bangladeshi national has officially entered Bahrain after the murder of Bahraini imam Shaikh Abduljalil Hmood by a Bangladeshi muezzin (prayer caller) in Muharraq on August 4, 2018.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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