Suicide is painless?

In the UAE you can't even try and kill yourself without the risk of punishment from the authorities. It wasn't as if this man was trying to harm anyone else. This is a prime example of how mental health is misunderstood in this part of the world. If he was so low as to attempt to kill himself then do you think a suspended jail sentence is going to make him feel any better?

Maybe the best course of action is to offer the man some counselling. The article says the he tried to end his life because he was suffering from "psychological problems and pressure at work". I know first hand that there are no grievance procedures in many of the universities here, professors are hired as teaching machines and can easily fall foul of student bribery and wasta tricks as well as politicking and backstabbing. Most professors just get the hell out here when it gets too much and hopefully onto a better job if their career hasn't been damaged too much.