By Hazem Mustafa
Nada, 28, ran through her family’s olive grove in the village of Daliyah in southern Latakia Governorate, western Syria. Her uncle, with tears in his eyes, rushed to embrace and informing her that the sound she heard in the village was from a grenade explosion that killed her father.
The villagers collected what remained of the body in one place and found her father’s ID and other cards in the torn military uniform.
Nada and her siblings could not believe the scattered body parts belonged to their father, Issa Abu Ali, 67. The residents of the village, which was not impacted by the Syrian war, could not comprehend what had happened.
Throughout the Syrian war, hundreds of bomb explosions occurred and thousands of bodies were scattered, but nothing like this had happened there before. The village had received the bodies of dozens of soldiers who were killed in the war, but with clear instructions of not being viewed by anyone.
On the noon of May 24, the girl stood there, along with her brothers, sisters and uncle and villagers shocked by the incident. They were waiting for the police and the forensic team to arrive. They wondered what had happened in the final moments of Abu Ali, who spent decades working in the Intelligence service of the Syrian government forces.
After the authorities came, they questioned the people and asked the children about their father’s behavior in his last days. They informed them he was normal, and the people agreed with their statements. The police asked about the source of the bomb, and everyone gave a consistent answer that Abu Ali found it in the olive grove.
After hours of investigation, the police and the forensic team left and took the father’s body to the National Hospital in the city of Jableh, southern Latakia. A day later, the forensic team issued a burial permit for Abu Ali’s body that was taken to the mountainous village, accompanied by many cars. Abu Ali had a solemn funeral, as he was one of the loved and respected figures in the village.
The people whispered he had committed suicide, contrary to what his family said of being a destined death.
The forensic report, signed by the forensic doctor and the emergency department of the hospital, indicated the cause of death was due to lacerations caused by a grenade explosion which led to a severe internal bleeding. The report was submitted to the judiciary authorities, along with the police report, as well as eyewitnesses and the family in attendance. After discussions, Abu Ali’s death was registered as “an unintentional mistake” in the presence of family and eyewitnesses who confirmed he had no enemies.
Abu Ali’s death was not the only one that was recorded as an “unintentional mistake” in the official records in the Syrian coast since early 2023.
On Jan.15, another young man, 34, was killed in the Daatur neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Latakia by a grenade explosion in a farmland. The incident was recorded as an unintentional mistake. The young man was also a soldier, married, and had two children.
In another case, a young man, 28, committed suicide in May 23, by detonating a grenade he had near al-Sharashir River in the countryside of Latakia. According to the initial estimates, there is an indefinite number of similar cases that were not limited to grenade explosions.
These cases have raised questions about the reasons behind registering these incidents as unintentional mistakes by the relevant authorities. Is there any legal loophole that helps families prevent these cases from being classified as suicides? What are the reasons?
Unintentional mistake vs. suicide
Abu Ali’s children have made it known their father’s death was fated and was an unintentional mistake.
Ali, the eldest son of Abu Ali, said, “My father spent his life serving the people and taking care of their affairs. He had a spotless reputation. He was not sick, depressed, or have drug problems. So how can we accept the presumption of his suicide? Even though the economic and financial troubles took a toll on my father in his final days, but he was a man of faith. It is impossible for me to believe he committed suicide.”
Denial is expected in these cases in most communities. The people who commit suicide may not let their family know of their intention, and their actions may appear normal. Sometimes, they leave letters or clues about their intention.
There is no one pattern for suicide, which leads families to take the next step, to consider and document the incident as an unintentional mistake or self-harm.
Hassan, 56, a resident of the village of Daliyah, told North Press via a social media platform, “Abu Ali’s family tried to register the incident as an unintentional mistake and denied the suicide happened by forging the police report, then the forensic report. They have their reasons for doing so.”
The forensic doctor, Manal, 33, from the National Hospital in Latakia, said, “Incidents of grenade explosion and other uses of weapons, have causes. Mistakes, ignorance, and negligence can lead to the death of the person involved. We cannot attribute every incident to a direct act of suicide.”
“The purpose of forensic medicine is to meticulously describe the case in medical terms. This includes describing the scene of the incident, the tools involved, the firing distance in case of shootings, the position of the body, lacerations, traces on the weapon used, and other details. Forensic medicine provides a purely medical opinion. However determining whether it is suicide or otherwise falls within the jurisdiction of the legal system. Therefore, the term suicide is a legal description, not a forensic one, except in very clear and evident cases,” Dr. Manal added.
“A definitive statement of suicide in cases of bomb explosions is possible and depends on the initial assessment of the scene in the moments following the explosion. We investigate the scene and compile a detailed report in conjunction with the police, other relevant authorities, and the relatives of the deceased looking for any criminal intent regarding the incident. In the absence of a criminal intention due to lack of evidence, the focus remains on the forensic medical report, followed by the decision of the judiciary, which issues a death certificate registering the cause of death and a description of the incident including the cause,” the doctor said.
“The phrase, unintentional mistake or self-harm, is a legal term that denies the direct occurrence of suicide, and this is due to the absence of clear evidence confirming suicide,” she explained.
She further added, “Firstly, it is related to the evaluation of forensic team, where they may suggest chance or unintentional mistakes. For example, when a person is holding the bomb when the body is discovered, this is an evident suicide. Sometimes, it is not possible, and the body may be fragmented. The condition of the hand that held the bomb can be an indication whether the person embraced it or not. This makes it difficult to conclude that the cause was suicide.”
In cases of deaths resulting from explosions, investigators may not find a direct evidence of suicide, such as suicide notes. However, in other cases involving the use of guns and rifles, written letters are sometimes found on social media platforms or on the phone.
A man, 46, from Homs Governorate, central Syria residing in the city of Salamiyah in Hama Governorate, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He left behind a letter that read, “Those I left behind are the ones committing suicide.” Therefore, the incident was recorded as a suicide.
Social, Religious, Political Denial
For the majority of people, suicide and those who commit it have a notorious reputation socially, religiously, and ethically.
Muhammad, 36, a lawyer from Latakia, said, “The person who commits suicide ends his life, the ultimate gift given to him by his own hands. This is the fundamental reason why religions forbade killing and marked suicide as a major taboo. In Islam, there is a clear warning to those who commit suicide, that they will repeat killing themselves in hell for eternity.”
Due to the social stigma, loss, and sudden death, a tremendous amount of despair is inflicted to the family of the person who commits suicide, damaging people surrounding him and his reputation in life and death. The family often do not accept the idea that one of their family members took their own life.
On May 23, the media reported that the reason behind the death of the man who killed himself near al-Sharashir River in the countryside of Latakia, “was unknown.” The explosion occurred in a location far from a residential area.
A friend of the young man, who preferred not to be named, said, “The young man was a university graduate, and he did not recover from a failed passionate love relationship. Most likely, this pushed him to commit suicide.” The cause of death was recorded “an unintentional mistake” after his father, who is a financial manager of a company in the public sector, influenced the relevant authorities.
In the case of Abu Ali, Hassan said ,“One of the reasons of Abu Ali’s suicide could be the well-known reputation of his family, which was associated with prominent families that hold social and religious significance in the village. There are rumors the man made mistakes and lost his money and lands in a failed business. He also borrowed money from traders with connections to security apparatuses who pursued him and threatened to kill him if he did not pay his debts, which amounted to over a 100 million Syrian pounds (SYP, equals about $7140). Additionally, he took a loan from a government bank and failed to repay it. So, these reasons led him to kill himself with a grenade.”
What increases the likelihood of suicide is that his family said the body of Abu Ali was found in a location far from the village. How was the information confirmed if the man’s body was found there?
Samar, the lawyer who followed the case, said, “Let us assume the presence of the grenade in that area was a coincidence. Why did the man pull the fuse, knowing the consequences, since he is an experienced military man? After he pulled the fuse, why did not he throw it away? This strongly suggests suicide.”
However, this does not explain the family’s efforts to register the incident as an unintended mistake. There are stronger reasons in local communities.
Sheikh Younes, 65, an Alawite religious figure in Daliyah, said, “In our belief, we cannot ask God forgiveness for the soul of the person who committed suicide or have a traditional funeral or prayer for him. That is why the man’s family sought to prove he did not commit suicide. After confirming the official death certificate issued by the state, a regular funeral was held for the man. However, many people are convinced that he committed suicide, and no one says may he rest in peace when talking about him.”
In the case of the young man in the Daatur neighborhood in Latakia killed on Jan 15, by a grenade explosion in a remote farmland, the incident was registered as an unintentional mistake. This young man was a soldier and had two children and a wife.
In a conversation with his 32 year-old wife Arwa(a pseudonym) who is related to her husband and is a university graduate, she said, “My husband was normal at the time of his death. Even though our financial situation was bad because my husband has been on reserve military duty for six years, and we only rely on his meager salary, but we managed. I cannot explain what happened. My husband had few social connections because he was a soldier and rarely attended social gatherings.”
When asked if her husband was registered as a “martyr,” (Martyred military personnel have additional financial and moral rights), she said no.
Arwa pointed out that the registration of her husband’s death as an unintentional mistake was done without her agreement. She does not know what happened and why it was registered that way.
“Maybe because he was a soldier, and it is shameful to say that a soldier committed suicide because of bad economic conditions. Maybe his relatives found it difficult to admit their son committed suicide,” she added.
On the other hand, “The judiciary system in these cases cannot issue judgments contrary to the forensic description of the case,” the attorney Ali said.
The authorities do not respond to the families’ requests to register deaths contrary to their true description when the case is clear because it goes against the law. “The families conceal the truth and claim the death is a matter of fate or an unintentional mistake,” he added.
legal effect
People often use the phrase “It was fated,” without realizing that it conceals the true underlying causes of death. This phrase “lifts the responsibility off of the person who committed suicide and his family in the community.”
The attorney Ali said, “The registration of incidents resembling suicide as an unintended mistake usually occurs during the investigation. This act reinforces the idea of fate. The judge may be swayed by the family’s desire not to register the incident as a suicide, taking into account the social status of the victim and the family.”
“This is not directly related to corruption but rather to the importance and value of social reputation in a society where values and customs are intensely correlated. The families always try to preserve their good reputation in every possible way,” he added.
Legally and before the law, registering incidents as suicide or unintended mistake does not affect the subsequent legal matters such as inheritance or the Iddah (Mourning period for widows), or the financial compensation in the workplace if the deceased was an employee or a military personnel.
It is worth noting that the Syrian law considers suicide an unpunished personal right. Suicide is not mentioned in the Syrian military penal code. However, the social impact within Syrian communities lays a significant burden on the victims’ families.
“Therefore, families seek and put pressure on the authorities to determine the cause of death in the initial death certificate issued immediately after the death in a way that prevents the suspicion and stigma of suicide,” he said.
“The police are usually the first authority to report on the incident in cooperation with the Mukhtar in the neighborhood or village, or the forensic team. At this stage, the reports can be directed towards denying that suicide occurred, provided there are no criminal intentions present,” the lawyer explained.
Concealed suicides
During the war in Syria, no official suicide statements were issued among Syrian military personnel. The public official suicide reports do not mention the professions of the individuals who committed suicide. However, through observing the news, there are some suicide cases among military personnel or those in the reserve military service, not to mention the easy access to firearms, especially grenades which are absolutely forbidden to be taken out of warehouses or carried by the personnel. The use of grenades is on the rise.
In 2010, suicide cases in Syria did not exceed one case per 400,000 people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Syria ranks 172 out of 176 countries on the suicide index, according to the World Population Review website specializing in demographic data. In 2022, the suicide rate rose to two cases per 200,000 people. This is an indicator of an increase in suicide rates and those inclined towards it. According to a forensic doctor in Damascus, “the number of suicide attempts ranges from three to four cases per day.”
Dr. Ahmad al-Qashi, a doctor specialized in psychiatry living outside Syria, said, “These numbers and indicators may be behind an unofficial direction taken by the Syrian authorities to classify some suicide cases as unintended mistakes, especially since the use of firearms in suicide attempts is considered the primary method, according to the Director of the Forensic Medicine Authority in Syria, Zaher Hajjo. The aim is to reduce the effects of the economic and psychological crisis and depression which the Syrian people are experiencing in various areas.”
He added, “The authorities’ inclination to indirectly downplay declaration of suicide cases may aim to reduce the collective tension among people following such news. Additionally, a high suicide rate indicates the failure of the authorities in managing the country and its people during the years of the crisis.”
In previous suicide cases, the dire economic condition was a clear factor influencing the general perception of the incidents. This argument is perceived as one of the main reasons for the increase in suicide cases in Syria. However, others reject to connect between the current Syrian crisis and suicide.
Dr. Muhammad, 65, a general practitioner, points out that in 2013, Syria witnessed only 50 suicide cases. In 2014, at the peak of the crisis, only seven cases were recorded. Meanwhile, there were 175 cases in 2022, which, according to the doctor, means “There is an increase in the rates of depression and anxiety among Syrians, exacerbated by lack of livelihood resources and the prospect of a clear future. However, the situation is not as tragic as some portrait it. The cases have not dramatically increased and there is no mass suicides.”
The dire economic conditions may be a reason for committing suicide, but there are also “psychological crises and treatment-resistant depression among a segment of the Syrian people, like any other people,” the doctor added.
In a recent case of suicide and documented killing, on June 26, an elderly man in the village of Ain al-Hayyat in countryside of al-Qardahah, killed his two children and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The father was normal and had no history of depression or illness.
This kind of news regularly appear on social media platforms and elsewhere, largely indicating that suicide, in one of its forms, is an expression of the breakdown of state of the people, which is filled with many motivating factors for suicide. These factors include depression resulting from the hardships of life. These hardships are alleviated in close-knit communities where they share common concerns. However, communities have been greatly affected in Syria and the supportive social relations have collapsed, leaving the individual to rely on himself and other individuals suffering like him. Moreover, many social values have changed, putting more burdens on individuals.