Jordanian dies after setting himself ablaze

A 54-year-old Jordanian man died on Wednesday after setting himself on fire, in the second such death in as many days, a security official said.“Yassin Falah Zubi set himself on fire in the Nazzal neighborhood, east of Amman. He was rushed to hospital but died there,” the official told AFP. “According to his son, the man suffered from mental problems.” On Tuesday, 52-year-old Ahmad Matarneh died in hospital after setting himself on fire the previous day because of his economic woes, his family said. The former Amman municipality employee’s contract was terminated in July. The municipality said Matarneh received about $11,000 as end-of-service compensation and a $42,000 housing loan, “expressing regret over his death.” In April, a man killed himself the same way after police refused to erase his criminal record. Meanwhile, an 18-year-old activist was arrested on Wednesday after torching a large picture of King Abdullah II in the southern city of Madaba, near Amman, local news websites reported. Jordan faces chronic economic challenges and people have been protesting since January last year to demand economic and political reforms as well as an end to corruption. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia in December 2010 after unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouaziz’s self-immolation set off a wave of protests that toppled long-standing dictators and dramatically changed the Arab world.