Self-immolating law grad dies in Morocco

January 24, 2012

A 27-year-old law graduate who set himself on fire to protest graduate unemployment has died, according to his wife, the state news agency, and a hospital. Abdelouahab Zaidoun and a second protestor set themselves on fire at an Education Ministry building in Morocco's capital,.

Zaidoun had been receiving treatment in after carrying out his threat to set himself on fire when police allegedly denied food to protestors demanding public sector employment. Around 9% of Morrocans are jobless, but 15–16% of university graduates are amongst the unemployed. 8.5 million of the 32-million population are impoverished.

"I ask the human rights organizations for help in opening an investigation into whoever forbade the bread from going to the protesters," Zaidoun's 25-year-old wife Amina Naddam told The Associated Press, saying through tears she held the authorities responsible for his death. Naddam said her husband was from but migrated to protest.

The economy continues to grow by several percent per anum but the jobs market is unable to cope with demand. Prime Minister 's government seeks to create 200,000 new posts a year but Benkirane accepts this is largely dependant upon the private sector. The target is to reduce unemployment to 8%. After a two-week occupation of the building by protestors, police began preventing the delivery of food. Video showed Zaidoun being beaten by police as he retrieved bread thrown over the police's heads; a fellow protestor sets himself on fire and Zaidoun catches light himself when he joins the first self-immolator.

Zaidoun suffered burns to more than 50% of his body. The other protestor is recovering. Both were among the 1,000 members of the National Association of Unemployed Graduates, one of several such organisations. There is a large security presence around the hospital where he died.

The once-rare practice of self-immolation has become more known since set himself on fire in Tunisia in December 2010, giving rise to protests that saw the government ousted. His death in became symbolic of the, which grew out from the subsequent Tunisian protests.