Several boys die copying Saddam hanging 多名男孩模仿萨达姆行刑致死
The boys' deaths — scattered in the United States, in Yemen, in Turkey and elsewhere in seemingly isolated horror — had one thing in common: They hanged themselves after watching televised images of Saddam Hussein's execution.Officials and relatives say the children appeared to be mimicking(1) the former Iraqi president’s Dec. 30 hanging, shown both on a sanitized(2) Iraqi government tape and explicit(3) clandestine(4) videos that popped up on Web sites and some TV channels.
The leaked videos, apparently taken by cell phone cameras, set off international outrage over the raucous(5) scene at Saddam's execution, but some experts are more concerned about the images of Saddam dropping through the gallows(6) floor and his body swinging at the end of a rope.
he experts say such graphic images can severely affect youngsters who do not yet understand the consequences of death and violence — especially because Saddam's death received intense international attention.
"They see how it's done, but they don't think it's horrific, and they're more likely to imitate it," said Hisham Ramy, an associate professor of psychiatry(7) at Ain Shams University in Cairo.
A day after Saddam's execution, a 10-year-old boy in Texas hanged himself from a bunk bed(8) after watching a news report on the execution. Police in the Houston suburb said the boy, Sergio Pelico, tied a slipknot(9) around his neck while on the bed but had not mean to kill himself.
"I don't think he thought it was real," Julio Gustavo, Sergio's uncle, said afterward. "They showed them putting the noose(10) around his neck and everything. Why show that on TV?"
Something similar occurred in Turkey, where 12-year-old Alisen Akti hanged himself Wednesday from a bunk bed after watching TV footage(11). His father, Esat Akti, told a newspaper that his son had been affected by the televised images.
"After watching Saddam's execution he was constantly asking 'How was Saddam killed?' and 'Did he suffer?'" Akti was quoted as saying. "These television images are responsible for my son's death."
In Yemen, at least two young boys died and another was injured in apparent imitations of Saddam's hanging.
Ramy, the professor in Egypt, said children are prone to(12) imitating violence they encounter on television, the Internet and movies, but usually they act out against another person. Mimicking a hanging or suicide is unusual, but perhaps in this case it is unsurprising, he said.
Because "some people have said Saddam is a hero and martyr(13) and have glorified his death, this has affected children," Ramy said.
But Jasem Hajia, a child psychologist in Kuwait City, cautioned against placing all the blame on video images. "This is extreme, and I think there were physiological disorders as well with the children," Hajia said.
美国、也门、土耳其最近都发生看似无关的男孩自杀恐怖事件，但却有一个共同点：他们都是在看过萨达姆·侯赛因绞刑图片后上吊自杀的。
官方和男孩家属们称孩子们明显模仿12月30日前伊拉克总统的绞刑，他们均看过伊拉克政府无害化处理过的录像和有些网站、电视频道播出的清晰的秘密视频。
这些私自流传的视频显然由手机摄像头拍摄而成，其中乱哄哄的行刑场面引起国际范围的愤怒，但是一些专家认为萨达姆从绞刑架落下，身体在绳子另一端摆动的画面更应受到关注。
专家说如此生动的画面会严重影响还不懂死亡和暴力后果的青少年，更何况萨达姆的死吸引了全世界的目光。
开罗埃因萨姆斯大学精神病学副教授说：“孩子们只是看见了这一过程，但是根本不明白这有多可怕，很容易去模仿它。”
萨达姆被行刑后第二天，德克萨斯州一10岁男孩看过新闻后在双层床中上吊致死。休斯顿乡村一名警察称这位名叫Sergio Pelico的小男孩在脖子上系的是活结，并非想寻死。
Sergio的叔叔Julio Gustavo说：“我觉得他不认为那是真的。电视上的萨达姆被套上绳索，然后绞刑。为什么要在电视上播这种东西？”
同样的惨剧发生在土耳其，一12岁名叫Alisen Akti的小男孩也于周三看过电视后在双层床中上吊。他的父亲Esat Akti对报纸说他的儿子受到了电视的影响。
Akti说：“看过萨达姆行刑录像后他不停问‘萨达姆是怎么被杀死的？他疼吗？’电视上的这些画面应该为我儿子的死负责。”
在也门也至少有2个小男孩因模仿萨达姆行刑死亡，1个受伤。
埃及教授Ramy说孩子们倾向于模仿在电视、网络和电影中看到的暴力行为，但是通常是施暴于他人。模仿上吊或者自杀并非通常的行为，但在这件事情上也许并不奇怪。
Ramy说因为有些人说萨达姆是英雄、是烈士，并高度赞扬他的死，这都对孩子们产生了影响。
但是科威特儿童心理学者Jasem Hajia认为不能完全归罪于视频图像。他说：“这太极端了，这些孩子本来心理也有问题。” :Q 12 years old kids should be old enough to understand some consequences,
Why blame the media when the parents couldn't properly teach their kids.
I agree that there were disorders with the children,
what else would it be the chance one out of the total number of children that saw the video.
And whose fault it was that neglected the children's problems.
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