Bangladeshi domestic helper found dead in suspected suicide

AMMAN — A 22-year-old Bangladeshi domestic helper was found dead in an Amman home on Monday in a suspected suicide, police said.

The victim, who was not identified, was found by her employers dangling from the staircase of their home at around 7:30am in the suburb of Marj Al Hamam, Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“We are treating this incident as a case of suicide for the time being and the investigation is ongoing,” he told The Jordan Times.

The victim reportedly used a bathrobe belt that “she wrapped around her neck”, the head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Kais Koussous, told The Jordan Times.

“Forensics at the scene detected writing on the victim’s palm in her own language,” Koussous added.

An autopsy is expected to be performed on Tuesday by a team of government pathologists at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, according to Koussous.

The lawyer for the Bangladeshi embassy in Amman, Suhad Laham, said she was following up on the case with the Jordanian authorities.

“The case is now in the hands of the judiciary and we are waiting for the final medical and investigation reports to take further action,” Laham, who has been the embassy’s lawyer for the past four years, told The Jordan Times.

She added that around 50,000 Bangladeshi nationals are registered with the Labour Ministry.

“We come across a limited number of unfortunate incidents yearly that claim the lives of Bangladeshi nationals in Jordan due to accidents, suicide, abuse and other violations,” Laham added. 

Earlier this year, government officials said that around 330,000 workers are listed under the foreign labour category. Some 65 per cent of them are Egyptians, followed by Bangladeshis, Syrians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, and other Asian nationalities.