Dr. Zaher Hajjo, Director-General of the General Authority for Forensic Medicine, revealed that 45 suicide cases were recorded this year in Syria, including 37 males and 8 females. Hajjo indicated that the most affected age gathering, with eight suicide cases, was persons between the ages of 40 and 50.
Hajjo said that the oldest suicide victim was 73 years old, while the youngest was 13 years old.
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For his part, a judicial source stressed that Syrian law does not punish a person who attempted suicide. This is because the person who committed suicide is mentally ill and must be treated. In such cases, corporal punishment is useless, given that the person who attempted suicide punished himself, in accordance with Article 539 of the General Penal Code, which was amended in 2011.
The article stipulates that if a person was by any means forced to commit suicide by any means listed in Article 218— or assisted in any way to do so — the accomplice is sentenced to five to 12 years’ imprisonment. And if the suicide victim was a juvenile under the age of 15 or mentally ill, the penalties for inciting murder apply. In these circumstances, the death penalty could be imposed.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
