One worker takes own life every 12 days
The Etemad daily has revealed that at least 23 workers have taken their own lives* since the beginning of the current Iranian year (21 March) due to worsening economic conditions.
The daily reported that the workers were all men and working without a contract or on a short-term contract. Ten labourers killed themselves by self-immolation to attract attention to their dire situation, six men hanged themselves, three took deadly doses of pills, and two shot themselves dead.
The workers identified by Etemad were sacked or suspended from work. In other cases, they faced threats of being laid off. The daily named three labourers who were all sacked from a petrochemical factory in the western province of Ilam.
Ilam is one the poorest provinces in the country and has the highest per capita number of suicides in Iran.
The report added that the actual number of labourer suicides due to poverty was higher than 23.
“There were other labourers who ended their own lives, but their families did not disclose the real cause of their deaths because of social and cultural taboos,” it said.
Source » middleeasteye