A Palestinian national who had been detained for three months at the 127bis immigration detention centre in Steenokkerzeel in Flanders died during the night between Monday and Tuesday.
Collective Getting the Voice Out announced the death at the closed immigration detention, where people facing deportation are held, in a statement released on Tuesday.
The organisation announced it had been alerted on Tuesday morning to the suicide of Mahmoud Ezzat Farag Allah by other detainees at 127bis.
"His fellow detainees are outraged. They are starting a hunger strike at the centre", said Getting the Voice Out.
The Immigration Office, for its part, deplored "the death last night of a national held at the 127bis centre", while indicating that the situation at the centre is "calm".
The death of Mahmoud Ezzat Farag Allah, who fled the violence in Gaza, has been confirmed by Gloria Mweze, his lawyer for less than a month. She had just taken over his case. The lawyer said she had been in telephone contact with her client on Monday evening, a few hours before his death.
Fragile state
Mahmoud Ezzat Farag Allah was in a very fragile psychological state, the lawyer explained, and needed medical attention.
"They refused to give him medication, saying he wasn't sick. Someone like him shouldn't be in a closed centre. He should have gone to hospital," Gloria Mweze said on Tuesday.
Jet Airways taking off near the closed asylum centre 127bis. Credit:
The lawyer explained that she had reported her client's psychological fragility to the Immigration Appeals Board in a petition filed on 23 September.
Mahmoud Ezzat Farag Allah's psychological state, already weakened by his exile and the violence he suffered in Gaza and also later in Greece, was aggravated by the death of his mother in Palestine. He also had suicidal thoughts, which were "documented by an emergency hospitalisation for drug poisoning", she explained.
Allah was a Palestinian national who had been granted refugee status in Greece, the lawyer continued. Believing that the fundamental rights of refugees are not respected in that country, he submitted five asylum applications in Belgium. The last application was rejected by the Immigration Office on 2 October.
The man and his lawyer were considering filing a request for his release. Getting the Voice Out states in its press release that Mahmoud Ezzat Farag Allah's fellow prisoners are outraged.
"They are starting a hunger strike at the centre and have made a flag with his name on it. They tell us: 'Today it's Mahmoud, tomorrow it will be someone else. Something must be done, the security guards are laughing at us. We have to do something,'" the collective warns.
Anyone having suicidal thoughts can contact the Suicide Prevention Centre hotline at 0800/32/123. The service is anonymous, free and available 24/7. More information can be found here.
The English mental health support (CHS) Helpline can be reached at 0264/84/014. The French-speaking Un pass dans l'impasse helpline can be reached at 0817/77/150. In Flanders, the helpline 1813 can be reached 24/7.
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