January 15, 2007
Children around the world hang themselves after Saddam death
China Post, reports on a series of teenage suicides where they hanged themselves, after watching graphic footage of Saddam Hussein's execution.
" From Yemen to the United States, officials and family members say these children were apparently mimicking the former dictator's Dec. 30 hanging, shown on TV and the Internet.
... In Texas, a 10-year-old boy hanged himself Dec. 31 from a bunk bed after watching news reports of Saddam's death.
... Hisham Ramy, an associate professor of psychiatry at Ain Shams University in Cairo, said graphic videos can have a severe affect on children who don't yet understand the consequences of death and violence."They see how it's done, but they don't think it's horrific, and they're more likely to imitate it," he said.
But child psychologist Jasem Hajia in Kuwait City cautioned placing all the blame on video images. "This is extreme, and I think there were physiological disorders as well with the children," Hajia said.
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