According to the Karun Human Rights Organisation, Kamal Baledi, an Ahwazi Arab citizen, committed suicide on Monday, November 3, due to psychological pressure and economic difficulties.

A relative of his stated that Baledi, who had previously worked at the Ahwaz Steel Industries Company, was dismissed by the company’s contractor about a year ago. Since then, he had faced unemployment and severe financial hardship. These conditions forced him to travel to Iraq in search of work, but under mounting emotional and financial strain, he ultimately took his own life.

Kamal Baledi, the 26-year-old, was married and the father of a young daughter. He lived in the Al-Ghamij area, across from Islamabad in Ahwaz.

Reports indicate that this incident is not an isolated case in recent weeks. Earlier, on Tuesday, October 20, Raad Silavi, an Arab worker from Gheyzaniyeh in Ahwaz County, also committed suicide after being dismissed from his job.

Labor and social activists say these cases are part of a recurring pattern in Ahwaz and its oil-rich surroundings, where structural discrimination in employment, lack of stable job opportunities, and severe economic pressure have driven many young people to despair.

According to activists, without serious reform in the hiring policies of major oil, steel, and petrochemical companies and effective oversight of contractors’ practices, the phenomenon of “death from unemployment” in the Ahwaz (Khuzestan) region could develop into a deep and alarming social crisis.