After repeating it, a media code to cover suicides in Egypt

Cairo -

After the recurrence of suicides over the past days, and the spread of videos of them on social media, Egyptian institutions have taken a number of steps to confront this phenomenon.

While Dar Al-Ifta and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif issued statements and awareness campaigns in the face of suicide, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation announced what it described as a "new code" for media dealing with suicide incidents.

Egypt has witnessed a number of suicides during the past days, the most famous of which is a dentist who threw herself from the sixth floor of a famous mall, and an elderly man threw himself under the wheels of the subway at Maadi Station, south of Cairo, in addition to a student jumping at the Faculty of Medicine at a private university from the fourth floor of the building. The university is located in Sixth of October City, Giza Governorate.

The massive spread of a video clip documenting the moment of the suicide of the "mall girl", caused the Public Prosecution to appeal to citizens to refrain from circulating the filming of the incident "in consideration of the rights and feelings of the grieving families of the deceased, and to discuss the causes of youth suicide, and to raise a conscious and alert generation, which is protected from being murdered and falling into that trap." ".

With the increase in suicide cases in the period, I wish and pray that our Lord, no matter how despair reaches anyone in the world, he guides himself and relieves his anguish and does not reach the stage of suicide..

— αℓiαα 💫 (@AliaaYounise) September 20, 2021

Suicides have become a daily occurrence,

why?

Because the sheikhs did not glorify this crime and were afraid of its punishment,

people became sympathetic to the suicide, which encouraged everyone who was going through hardship to resort to this easy solution from his point of view.

— Rania Mostafa (@Ranimoas) September 19, 2021

Why did no one think of interrogating the family of the girl who committed suicide?

Why is there no charge directed to the people in this afflicted region of the world?

It does not include a crime called “beating that led to death.” Why is there no crime called “pressure that led to suicide”?

— douaa fathala (@douaafathala) September 17, 2021

I am not surprised by the suicide cases that I see every day on the social media or the ones that are close to us, because I know what I mean by someone who reaches the point of despair in his life, someone who is despairing of himself, someone who is depressed and sad eats like Deb two prices. With mercy and only

— mustafa ab0ud (@mustafaaboud93) September 19, 2021

Suicide cases, especially those that have spread among medical students, are suspicious. Doctors must seize you, in all university hospitals dedicated to students + seminars to raise awareness of psychological conditions, depression and introversion, and how to deal with them and overcome them and how to solve and overcome the life problems that I face

— Solly (@EslamRa25173318) September 20, 2021

New media code

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation in Egypt announced the discussion of a new media code to cover suicide incidents, in preparation for its issuance within two weeks, that includes items such as not covering suicide incidents or considering them as normal or positive, and in return broadcasting a media message explaining that they are negative and unacceptable.

The head of the Media Regulatory Council, Karam Jabr, said in a telephone interview with the “On My Responsibility” program broadcast on “Echo Al-Balad” channel, on Monday, that the determinants of the media code for dealing with suicide cases aim to sanctify the right to life and respect the pain of families, and to deal with the suicide as A mental patient, in addition to not being extravagant in publishing videos of the suicide, and giving heroism to his person.

Among the proposed provisions in the new code is not to take suicide incidents as a means to increase viewership, interaction or sales, and that the goal of publishing or media coverage should always be to prevent and reduce these attempts or cases, be careful when formulating titles related to them, and not use provocative or resonant language.

It also included not highlighting suicide incidents, or giving them the leading positions in publishing or broadcasting, but rather they should be given a late priority, while clarifying the available medical, psychological and community support bodies, and mentioning the means of communication to confront such crises.

Negative impact on society

A mental health consultant, Walid Hindi, confirmed that the circulating suicide news has a significant negative impact on society, especially those that lack accuracy and objectivity in the method of presentation, especially via the Internet.

Hindi explained, in press statements, that the spread of negative news and rumors wastes the energy of individuals, and that the large and terrifying numbers circulating about suicide cases, cause the spread of depression in the Egyptian street, feelings of frustration, anxiety and suffering from various psychological disorders.

The spread of negative news also causes a feeling of laziness and dullness in production, and a feeling of malaise and boredom, which motivates it psychologically to deal with state institutions, such as going to a crowded government place to get angry and angry and deal with the problem more than its real size.

Al-Azhar and Endowments on the line

For its part, the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments issued, on Monday, a statement regarding some suicides, and the Minister of Endowments, Mukhtar Gomaa, confirmed in the statement published by the official page of the Egyptian Council of Ministers that the suicide is a murderer, and that suicide is not followed by relief but rather a painful torment.

Juma’a also considered that “suicide is a crime against humanity,” and that “the suicide bomber is a murderer, because he killed a soul, as God forbids in his dear book the killing of any soul, whatever it is.” Hell," according to the hadiths of the Prophet.

Jumaa explained, in a telephone interview with the “On My Responsibility” program, that the suicide person goes through a casual ordeal or psychological pressure, and sees that he is dying and resting from it, while suicide is not followed by comfort, but rather the painful torment and its owner the same punishment as if he killed any other soul.

Al-Azhar Al-Sharif also launched a campaign “Do not despair, do not commit suicide” to confront suicide attempts.

conflicting numbers

Sally Ashour, a political science teacher at the National Center for Criminal and Social Research, said that the suicide rate in Egypt was 1.29 people per 100,000 people in 2018, stressing that the data issued by the World Health Organization, which announces higher numbers than the real numbers, is incorrect, she said.

She explained during her meeting with the "On My Responsibility" program, last Saturday, that suicide is a civilization phenomenon and is concentrated in the governorates of Cairo, Giza and Alexandria, but it has begun to spread in the countryside, and that males are more inclined to commit suicide than women.

The World Health Organization had announced, in a report in 2019, that Egypt is the first Arab country in the number of suicides, ahead of those countries experiencing armed conflicts and civil wars, noting that there are no official statistics in Egypt on real suicide rates, In part, because deaths are recorded as natural, for fear of families feeling stigmatized or stigmatized.