Asir law authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a 26-year-old Saudi woman who had her marriage plans stopped by a brother she hadn’t seen in two years.
The incident occurred last Tuesday when the young woman drank gasoline, then poured it over her body and set a match to it. She sustained critical burns to her body and was rushed to Mahyal Asir General Hospital where she died one day later, according to Al-Weeam online newspaper.
Lt. Abdullah Al-Sha’than, a spokesman of Asir police department, said his station has received a report of the incident and has launched an investigation.
According to reports, the woman received a marriage proposal and she accepted it. The bride-to-be’s maternal uncle, who was her closest male relative since her father had died, and her mother agreed to the marriage and a dowry was arranged and received.
The woman was living with her mother after her father died when a man approached the uncle for his permission to marry. Following the engagement, the woman’s brother, a security officer, arrived.
According to the victim’s family, the brother disappeared two years ago after taking the father’s retirement funds. Although the mother filed a complaint with the Asir court that her son had mistreated her, he remained missing.
After arriving at the family’s house, the brother broke off the engagement without giving any explanation. The young bride-to-be fell into a deep depression. The brother and her uncle then returned to the house and allegedly beat the woman because of her depressive state. She fell further into depression and took her own life, according to reports.
Bride-to-be sets self ablaze after brother stops marriage
