KUWAIT: The public relations and security information department of the ministry of the interior yesterday issued a statement on the recent suicide of a young stateless man, in response to various reports on social networking sites. The ministry said investigations conducted by security authorities showed the illegal resident (the government's term for bedoons) was a drug addict and had 12 criminal cases of drugs-related and theft offenses filed against him.

The ministry indicated that the deceased was arrested on May 11, 2019 on charges of possession of drugs and was placed by a judicial ruling in a social welfare institution of the ministry of social affairs and labor for one year. The statement said the man had tried to commit suicide in Andalus on June 7, 2019, but was unsuccessful. He then repeated the attempt on July 7, 2019 in Saad Al-Abdullah.

The ministry added the deceased had tried multiple times to commit suicide. The statement highlighted that the forensic report revealed the man died as a result of asphyxiation by hanging. The autopsy report also showed the deceased had abused shabu before killing himself. Notably, MPs have been blaming the government for the bedoon's suicide, after the central agency for illegal residents refused to renew his security ID.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun