CAIRO: A wave of self-immolation broke out in Egypt on Monday and Tuesday. Following the death of a man from Alexandria who died of his injuries after setting himself self on fire, the third self-immolation in Egypt in two days, two other attempts at suicide by self-immolation but were foiled by security. Egyptian security forces on Tuesday foiled a fifth attempt at self-immolation when they prevented 65-year-old accountant Ali Sayed from setting himself on fire. Security sources said Sayed had tried to commit suicide outside of Egypt's parliament building in Cairo by setting himself ablaze. 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 tried to set himself on fire in front of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. He too, however, was stopped by building security. According to his brother, Mohamed works as a security officer at 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 boss from working on board planes, thus depriving him of flight allowances. He also noted that a court ruling on the issue had ruled in his brother's favor. Mohamed had also filed a complaint with President Hosni Mubarak's office, his brother said. This happened only one day after 49-year-old restaurant owner Abdo Abdel Moneim Gaafar from Ismailia set himself on fire before the parliament building and was taken to hospital. Al-Azhar University, the main center of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, issued a statement saying that Sharia Law forbids suicide as an expression of anger or protest. In a statement issued late Tuesday, the university said Islam strictly prohibits suicide for any reason, and those who recently attempted suicide by setting themselves on fire might be suffering from a mental or psychological disorder that compelled them to do so. Azhar announced that any Muslim setting himself ablaze in order to protest against the current social or political state, or because he has failed to solve a personal problem, is considered to have committed a sin. Scholars and members of the Islamic Research Academy have also issued a fatwa against groups that have launched websites and blogs allegedly encouraging people to immolate themselves in protest against their government and rulers in an attempt to lead to a people's revolution, calling on Muslims to boycott such calls. BM
