A young couple in the western province of Kermanshah set fire to themselves on Wednesday March 6 as a result of extreme economical pressure. The 30 year old woman who was six months pregnant passed away while her baby survived. The father also survived but sustained serious injuries.

According to a human rights groups, the six month old baby, who also sustained burns, was taken out of her mother’s womb alive and is being kept in an incubator.

The couple, who lived in a poor neighborhood in Kermanshah, poured gas on themselves before setting themselves aflame. The mother has been identified as Fereshteh Kahrarian.

Last September, a woman in the western province of Ilam also committed suicide by taking pesticides due to extreme poverty. Her husband also took pesticides to commit suicide after the doctors told him that there was no hope for his wife. They both passed away shortly after that.

Last October a father killed his wife and 9 year daughter with a needle gun before committing suicide due to poverty.

Reports indicate only in November and December 2018, at least 16 people committed suicide due to poverty and severe economic hardship and family related issues.

On February 10, a young mother from the town of Sahneh in the western province of Kermanshah hanged her two sons identified as 6 year old Ali-Reza and 3 year old Amir-Abbas before hanging herself. It was said that the family was suffering from extreme poverty.

Iran’s increasing trend of suicide in the past 40 years among different social classes, including group suicides, carried out by people of all ages, has turned into a humanitarian catastrophe. The victims of most of these suicides are from the country’s deprived western and southern provinces, such as Ilam, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Hamedan, and Khuzestan. Women and young people, and even children have become the victims of this cruel phenomenon.

According to the state-run Khabar Online website, “suicide rates in Iran are increasing in an astonishing way.”

“From 2011 to 2015, suicide rates increased 66% amongst women and 71% amongst men”, Khabar online wrote.

“For years now, the media have not been given stats when it comes to suicide rates as relevant organizations refuse to publish them”, the website added.

The report also says that suicide rates were also very high among young people.

Although relevant authorities do not publish accurate reports of suicide rates or deaths from it, the spread of this catastrophe is such that government officials call it an “epidemic”.

According to officially announced reports, more than 3,300 women committed suicide in Iran in 2017. The shocking new figures on suicides in Iran was revealed for the first time by one of the deputies of Iran’s Ministry of Sports and Youth.

In light of the Iranian regime’s lack of transparency and government agencies’ failure to accurately register data, actual figures are much higher.

Mohammad Mehdi Tondgooyan, the Deputy for Youth Affairs at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, announced on August 19, 2018, that the suicide rate in Iran was estimated at 4,992 suicides in the (Persian) year ending in March 2018.

On women’s suicides, Tondgooyan said that the “rate of attempted suicides in women was about two thirds, and one third in men,” implying that nearly 3,300 women committed suicide in Iran in the period of only one year, which amounts to 9 women per day.

Source » irannewswire