When Munir Azdeni saw fire a few meters away from his uncle’s house, he thought the family might be baking bread as usual and that the wind had fueled the fire.

However, voices calling for help sent Azdeni rushing towards the flames, only to discover that his cousin was committing suicide.

Munir said the shock initially crippled him, but the loud screams of his 18 year-old cousin Ziad Azdeni, led Munir to call out to the neighbors for help.

But Ziad’s body was seriously burned and he died even before arriving at the local hospital in Kairouan.

When Munir Azdeni saw fire a few meters away from his uncle’s house, he thought the family might be baking bread as usual and that the wind had fueled the fire.

However, voices calling for help sent Azdeni rushing towards the flames, only to discover that his cousin was committing suicide.

Munir said the shock initially crippled him, but the loud screams of his 18 year-old cousin Ziad Azdeni, led Munir to call out to the neighbors for help.

But Ziad’s body was seriously burned and he died even before arriving at the local hospital in Kairouan.

A miserable life

Munir said his cousin Ziad used to cross 11 kilometers a day to go to school and when back home, he had to walk a longer distance to bring water.

Ziad lived a bad social situation in a remote area in Kairouan (South) with his step-mother and younger siblings, suffering from a lack of key necessities of life.

His village, Sidi Omar is affiliated to Bouhajla, Kairouan and is one the country’s poorest areas and lacks infrastructure including water and electricity.

Ziad was suffering from the heavy burden of being the only male in the household, after his father had traveled to Italy for work.

Although he was a peaceful and wise young man and excelled at school, Ziad lost patience with his harsh life conditions. In a moment of despair, he decided to set his body on fire.

Economic crisis leads to personal crises

Every week, the news reports the suicide of a Tunisian person, including students still at school.

The increasing cases of self-immolation or hanging in Tunisia have pushed social experts to sound the alarm of this phenomenon, which includes various segments of society.

In the absence of research commissioned by the government, a study by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (non-governmental) revealed that the cases of self-immolation have increased and there were 122 cases last year.

The Forum says that the economic crisis has deepened social exclusion, psychological turmoil and the sense of deprivation, despair and uncertainty, especially among the youth.

According to the above study, 60 percent of those committing suicide are between 18 and 30 years of age.

Considering social conditions, the study revealed that 90 percent of cases are among poor groups, especially in the internal disadvantaged areas.

Psychiatrist Imad Raqiq thinks that the repeated suicide attempts “are messages those who commit suicide wanted to deliver to politicians about the desperate situations of the youth since the revolution.”

The Tunisian youth was expecting positive signs of hope, but they were shocked by the deepening unemployment, poverty and marginalization and growing political and economic exclusion, Raqiq said.

On the reason behind the increase in self-immolation cases, Raqiq said the victims choose this method because they believe that it is a heroic act that will draw more attention, recalling the case of Mohamed Bouazizi, the peddler whose suicide spurred the Tunisian revolution.

The psychiatrist observed that self-immolation is prevalent among various groups of society, including minors and they elderly. “Suicide occurs in all categories and age groups,” he said.