CNN.com
2 in Egypt torch themselves; 1 dead
By the CNN Wire Staffc/div>
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* A man dies in after setting himself afire in Alexandria
* An incident in Cairo appeares to be spurred by a personal issue
* The protests in Tunisia were sparked by a man who torched himself
(CNN) -- One man died and another was injured after they set themselves on fire
Tuesday in Egypt, the latest in a string of self-immolations in restive North
Africa, officials told CNN.
Ahmed Hashem Sayed set himself on fire in Alexandria and died from his burns,
said Dr. Salama Abdel-Menem, Alexandria's health director. Local media reports
that Sayed was unemployed.
Mohammed Farouq Mohammed, a lawyer, set himself ablaze in Cairo, but is now in
stable condition with 5% of his body burned. Dr. Mohameed Yousuf, head of
Cairo's Mouneiriya hospital, said the victim will be leaving the hospital
within days.
Mohammed burned himself in front of the parliament building because his ex-wife
refused to allow him to see his daughters, a security source and a medical
source at the hospital told CNN.
The popular protests in Tunisia that have caused upheaval in the government
were sparked by Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old unemployed college graduate,
setting himself on fire in protest. He later died.
Now, reports are coming in from other countries in the region -- including
Algeria and Mauritania -- that other people are turning to self-immolation,
even though it is too soon to know how many of the incidents were sparked by
political and social grievances.
In Egypt, Abdo Abelmonem Gafr, a baker from a town outside Cairo, set himself
on fire outside the parliament building in the capital on Monday, an Interior
Ministry official said. Gafr has burns to his face but is alive and not badly
hurt, ministry spokesman Alla Mahmood said.
In Algeria, security officials said Sunday that three people set themselves on
fire. Riots and demonstrations have erupted in Algeria in recent days.
News reports out of Mauritania say a man set himself on fire Monday in front of
the presidential palace. The reports identify the man as Yacoub Dahoud, who
posted a Facebook message praising Bouazizi and vowing, "We will never forget
you."
Mauritanian media said Dahoud started a Facebook group called "Stop the
corruption and tyranny in Mauritania." In a statement on the page, Dahoud
wrote, "Isn't it the time for the Mauritanian people to choose their freedom?"
Blake Hounshell of the foreignpolicy.com blog, wrote on Monday that the
attempts are a "shocking, desperate tactic that instantly attracts attention,
revulsion, but also sympathy."
Bouazizi had set himself ablaze outside a government building in the Tunisian
town of Sidi Bouzid after police confiscated his fruit cart, saying he was
selling without a permit, according to Amnesty International.
Buddhist monks famously took to self-immolation in protest against the Vietnam
War. "Of all the dramatic photographs to come out of the Vietnam War, the first
to shock the world was of a Buddhist monk in flames," journalist Tim Larimer
wrote for Time magazine in 1999.
At Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 2001, five people lit themselves on fire in
front of a CNN crew. One died. A police report identified them as members of
the banned Falun Gong movement. But Falun Gong denied any connection to that
incident, saying what transpired had "nothing to do with Falun Gong
practitioners."
CNN's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report
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