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Afghan refugee sets himself on fire at Medan protest
An Afghan asylum seeker set himself on fire during a protest on Tuesday in Medan, North Sumatra, over his seven-year wait for his case to be legally processed.
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Afghan refugees wait in tents outside the office of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Medan, North Sumatra on Dec. 1, 2021. Local authorities attempted to dismantle the tents after a young asylum seeker set fire to himself during the protest, but the group returned to the site unfazed. (JP/Nurni Sulaiman)
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young Afghan man is being treated for third-degree burns after he set himself on fire during a protest on Tuesday, in front of the Medan office of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in North Sumatra.
The man, who has been identified as 22-year-old Ahmad Sah, attempted to take his own life by dousing himself in gasoline and lighting it. A coordinator of the protest said that Sah had apparently resorted to self-immolation out of desperation from living in legal limbo for years in Indonesia.
Fellow protesters failed to prevent the man from setting himself alight, The Jakarta Post observed, but local security guards acted quickly to put out the flames with buckets of water as the man ran around while on fire.
Sah was sent to nearby Siloam Hospital for emergency treatment. According to Muhammad Juma, the coordinator of the protest, around 70 percent of his body is covered in burns. Juma also suggested that the young refugee was battling with depression.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Afghan refugees continued their protest at the UNHCR’s Medan office.
UNHCR Indonesia communications associate Dwi Prafitria said the agency was looking into the incident and coordinating with the authorities to ensure that Sah was being provided with the necessary treatment for recovery.
“UNHCR is deeply concerned about the incident,” she told reporters on Tuesday evening.
