Issa hanged himself.. no criminal suspicion

The 12-year-old Emirati child, Issa Hassan Ali, hanged himself with his school belt, leaving his family in tears and pain, according to their expression, noting that they were surprised to find his body hanging from a curtain in a room in his grandfather’s house in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. The Director of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Ras Al Khaimah Police, Brigadier Abdullah Al Hadidi, denied the existence of any criminal suspicion in the death of the child Issa, stressing that “the forensic doctor examined the body and determined in his report that he committed suicide, and there is no criminal suspicion in the incident, and the Public Prosecution has authorized his burial.”

The child’s aunt attributed his suicide to “being influenced by the Turkish series (Tears of Roses), when (Al-Kurunji), one of the series’ characters, committed suicide in prison in the same manner.”

The child’s father, Hassan Ali Jumaa, spoke on the “Al-Rabi’a Wal-Nas” program about his suspicions of a criminal suspicion behind the incident, accusing the family of his ex-wife, Umm Issa. “Emarat Al-Youm” met with Umm Issa, the child’s mother, who said, “I believe that Issa’s father has hopes of obtaining compensation or a sum of money for the death of his son Issa, whom he left before he was born when we separated 12 years ago. Issa was born blind, and I treated him at my own expense until his sight returned, and I was keen to raise him in the best way, while his father was satisfied with paying part of the amount that the court ruled, and the last amount he paid last Eid Al-Fitr was only 600 dirhams.”

“I was living in an Arab house in the Umm Khanoor area of ​​Sharjah, and my son Issa refused to go to school. Fearing for his future, I called his father and told him that his son refused to go to school, but he did not pay me any attention or care about the matter, which forced me to take him to my father’s house, which I visit almost daily, so that my sister, the educator, could teach him. Issa continued studying and succeeded every year, after we made sure that he took remedial lessons and paid private lessons in other subjects,” Issa’s mother said.

The aunt of the suicidal boy, who was the last person to sit with him, said: “There is no suspicion of a crime in my nephew’s death, nor is it suicide; because a suicide bomber commits suicide with the intention of dying, and I am certain, based on my good knowledge of Issa, that he committed this act believing that he would not die, and he thought it was just a game, and he tried to imitate what he saw in the series “Tears of Roses”, specifically the character of (Al-Karunji) who committed suicide in prison.”

Issa’s aunt said, “She was teaching her nephew Issa and her other nephew, and Issa went to sleep in his room, and I thought that he really wanted to sleep or would go back to the living room as usual if he didn’t sleep, and it didn’t occur to me what had happened.”

She continued, “Issa was sleeping in this room with the maid and his other cousin. We discovered the incident when the maid went to the room and knocked on the door several times, but he did not answer. So she went to the window and saw Issa hanging from the room’s curtain rod.”

“We went straight to the room, broke the door, entered and saw him hanging. We had hope that he was still alive. We called the police and an ambulance, and he was taken to the hospital with us. After confirming his death, the police initially refused to hand over the body to us. The forensic doctor examined the body and confirmed that there was no criminal suspicion. After that, we received the boy’s body,” the aunt continued.

Grandfather holding a photo of his suicidal grandson. Photo: Mohammed Hanif

On the other hand, the child’s grandfather, Ibrahim Obaid Mahlawi, said: “I was very upset by the child’s father’s accusation against us, and his suspicion that there was a criminal suspicion behind the incident.” He continued, “We raised the boy since his birth, and he grew up among my sons and daughters, and we are the ones who spent on him throughout these years, and the incident shocked us more than his father, who did not know him until after his death.” He believed that the police and the prosecution would not remain silent if there was a criminal suspicion, as Issa’s father claimed, and that the law and the judiciary would be the judge between us.

The Director of the Criminal Investigation Department at Ras Al Khaimah Police, Brigadier Abdullah Al Hadidi, denied the existence of any criminal suspicion in the death of the Emirati child Issa Hassan, who was found hanged in his room in his family’s home in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, noting that “the forensic doctor examined the child’s body and determined in his report that the child committed suicide and that there was no criminal suspicion in the incident. Accordingly, he was buried and a death certificate was issued.”

Al-Hadidi explained in a phone call with the Al-Rabiaa Wal-Nas program that “the police investigations, their examination of the scene of the accident, and the collection of information from the child’s family and close friends, did not reach any criminal suspicion in his death, especially since the death was witnessed by people close to him, contrary to what the child’s father indicated, who ruled out that his son committed suicide and demanded that his son’s body be exhumed and dissected.”

In the details of the death of the child Issa, the head of the investigations department in the Criminal Investigation Department in Ras Al Khaimah Police, Lieutenant Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, indicated that “the citizen child Issa Hassan hanged himself in his room in his home in one of the residential areas in Ras Al Khaimah, after tying a rope around his neck and hanging him from the curtain, and he died.”

The central operations room received a report from the child’s family stating that Issa was found hanged in his room, confirming that “the investigations with the child’s family revealed that he had watched many films that included repeated suicide scenes, but they did not care about them, thinking that he would not commit it. The child’s family also indicated that they were in a constant argument with him about his studies, as he did not want to complete his studies.”

For his part, the Director of the Criminal Investigation Branch at the city police station, Major Aref Al-Kaz, stated that during the investigations, it was found that there were no acts of violence or bruises on the child’s body, and that the examination of the body showed that he did not suffer from any psychological conditions or disorders. He pointed out that the case file was transferred to the Public Prosecution to complete the necessary legal procedures and find out the details and circumstances of the case, especially since the forensic doctor confirmed that there was no criminal suspicion in the child’s death.

Al-Kaz called on parents and guardians to monitor their children and follow the programmes they watch, which would undermine their morals and negatively affect their thinking, which would affect their behaviour and actions.

In addition, the psychiatric consultant, Dr. Ali Al-Harjan, explained that “there are many negative effects that are reflected on adolescents and even some elderly people, who are affected by scenes of violence, murder and suicide, whether through films or electronic games. The child tries to impersonate the character or imitate scenes of violence, as a result of a group of feelings of sadness and pain that overwhelm him, as a result of what is called psychological infection that is transmitted from the actor to scenes of violence or suicide, and he is often a child or an adolescent, so he develops a desire to imitate the scene, and adults are also infected with psychological infection and suffer from depression and a desire to commit suicide.”

Al-Harjan confirmed that “many of the patients who have visited him recently are teenagers who have attempted suicide or committed suicide for various reasons.”

He stated that “most of those who commit suicide belong to risk groups and suffer from functional, emotional, academic or social problems. They often try to get rid of these problems by committing suicide and giving up on life.”

On the other hand, the Sharjah Police Research Center, in a study that addressed the development of the police’s role in dealing with domestic violence, called for tightening control over media messages directed at children and adolescents and removing all manifestations of violence, in addition to educating parents not to allow their children to watch programs intended for adults that include scenes of violence and suicide.