The autopsy report on the 62-year-old journalist, who was identified only as A.F., confirmed the cause of death as suicide, said police spokesman in Jeddah Col. Misfer Al-Juaid on Thursday.
“Police found the body of the man hanging on a rope in the bathroom of his apartment in the northern Al-Safa district,” Al-Juaid said.
According to another source, the journalist had left a note before his suicide.
The source added that he spoke with his sister in tears before ending his life. The records also showed that he was receiving treatment from a mental hospital in Jeddah and that he had made an unsuccessful attempt to take his life two years ago.
The deceased was an economic editor in both English and Arabic dailies in the Kingdom.
Some of his former colleagues agreed that the deceased was haunted by a strong sense of frustration, which some attributed to his failure to be steady in his work.
After his studies in the United States, the journalist returned to the Kingdom in 1995 with his only daughter born of his American wife.
According a Jeddah-based psychologist, Yousuf Ibrahim, suicidal tendencies have been on the increase in the Kingdom particularly over the past three months.
