Egyptian security forces on Tuesday thwarted a fifth attempt at suicide by immolation when they prevented 65-year-old accountant Ali Sayed from setting himself on fire.
Security sources said that Sayed had tried to commit suicide outside of Egypt's parliament building in Cairo by dousing himself with alcohol and setting himself alight. He later denied having tried to take his own life.
On the same day, also in front of Egypt's parliament building, another Egyptian, 50-year-old lawyer Mohamed Farouk Hussein, also attempted to set himself ablaze.
And on Tuesday evening, 53-year-old Mohamed Ashour Mohamed likewise tried to set himself on fire in front of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. He too, however, was stopped by building security before he could carry out the act.
According to his brother, Mohamed works as a security officer at national carrier EgyptAir. His brother explained that Mohamed had been having problems at work, noting that he had recently been subject to salary deductions and prohibited by his superiors from working on board planes, thus depriving him of flight allowances.
He also noted that a court ruling on the issue had been issued in his brother's favor. He had also filed a complaint with President Hosni Mubarak’s office, his brother said.
He also said that Mohamed was suffering from a diabetic coma associated with stress, noting that his brother would be taken to hospital for treatment.
Only one day earlier, 49-year-old restaurant owner Abdo Abdel Moneim Gaafar from the canal city of Ismailia set himself on fire before the parliament building and was taken to hospital.
Also on Monday, a young unemployed man in Alexandria died of burns after setting himself alight on the roof of a building.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
