Autopsy report confirms Bangladeshi worker ‘committed suicide’

AMMAN — The Bangladeshi embassy in Amman on Saturday confirmed that a Bangladeshi domestic helper, who was found dead at her employer’s home in an Amman neighbourhood, took her own life based on an autopsy report.

The victim, who was not identified, was found by her employers on February 17 with a scarf wrapped around her neck hanging from the window of their home in Hashemi Shamali.

A senior police official told The Jordan Times last week that “foul play was ruled out until investigators received a conclusive report from the National Institute of Forensic Medicine [NIFM] to confirm that it was a suicide”.

The Bangladeshi embassy’s lawyer Iman Batayneh confirmed to The Jordan Times that an autopsy report performed by the NIFM indicated that “it was a suicide incident”.

“The NIFM informed us that death by hanging was the cause of the woman’s death,” Batayneh said.

The lawyer added that initial investigations and questioning of the employers indicated that the “victim received a phone call from Bangladesh few days before the incident and she became depressed”.

“There was no suicide note or any clear evidence to explain why the woman killed herself other than the fact that she had received a call from her relatives in Bangladesh,” the lawyer explained.

She added that “the embassy will wait for the final report by the authorities to be able to send the victim’s body back to Bangladesh for burial”.

The victim entered the Kingdom on March 2017, according to embassy officials, who added that the “next of kin were immediately notified about the incident”.