Young street vendor found dead in Irbid, police suspect suicide

AMMAN — A 28-year-old street vendor reportedly died on Saturday while at his family's home in Irbid, with the authorities attributing his death to suicide.

The victim was reportedly found hanging from the ceiling of his home in the town of Huneineh, with a rope tied around his neck, a senior official source said.

"Our preliminary investigations indicate that the victim took his own life, and police are investigating the incident," the senior official source told The Jordan Times.

A team of government pathologists headed by Director of Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine Ali Shotar performed an autopsy on the victim and concluded that "he died of hanging", a senior medical source told The Jordan Times. 

"Forensic experts detected ligature marks around his neck and concluded that the victim died of asphyxiation resulting from the rope that was tied around his neck," the senior medical source said.

The medical source added that blood and tissue samples taken from the victim were sent to the criminal lab for further analysis. 

A second source told The Jordan Times that "the victim was a street vendor who was suffering from financial problems".

"The victim had a stall, and authorities recently seized it from him," the second source said.

Limited incidents of riots were reported in Irbid on Saturday in protest of the young man's death, according to reports by multiple local media outlets.    

Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi was unavailable to comment on the incident on Saturday, despite repeated attempts by The Jordan Times to contact him.