Voices of Iraq Article: Tattoos...Iraqis' post-death IDs

Mosul-Tattoos
By Ibrahim Zannun

Mosul, Dec 18, (VOI) – Naji Qassem revealed his shoulder to his cousin Salah with a grin of satisfaction on his face about what he has done.

Qassem went in the morning with a friend to have his shoulder tattooed with his personal data – full name, address and telephone number.

Salah did not feel well about this but he knows his cousin was afraid to be buried in a strangers' graveyard if he was ever found dumped in a street a headless corpse.

Qassem and others like him who became accustomed to scenes and news of slaughters and killings enmeshed the Iraqis – with bodies mostly found on the roads without heads or in refuse dumps – had no other way to avoid burial in strangers' cemeteries but getting tattooed so that their bodies would be easy to identify after death.

Abu Waddah, a simple employee in the city of Mosul, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI): "My family has been searching for my brother and three cousins for 16 months now after they went to Baghdad for some administrative paperwork."

"There was no word about them and we could not even find their bodies," he said, adding "all male members of the family reacted by having their arms tattooed with their personal data, which was the least we could do."

Osama Khalil, a day laborer, said there were bodies that were not decapitated but had their faces disfigured with nitric acid.

"The fear conquering our hearts made us think of tattoos to use as a means of identification," said Khalil.

Mohammed Basil, a seller of mobile phones, said the problem is "we abandoned all hopes for a peaceful life. We have got to admit that death is expected at any moment, but all that we wish is to have our lifeless bodies identified so that our folks bury us and visit our graves. Tattoos have become necessary these days."

Yassin Nejm, a merchant, said his wife begged him to get tattooed in light of the growing unstoppable killings.

"I have nine children, the youngest of whom is only four months, and I wish to have my grave known to them so that they may visit me, and that is why I resorted to tattoo," said Nejm.

Saeed Khalaf, a tattooist, said most of the customers asked him to have their names and the phone numbers of three or four relatives tattooed.

"Appointments are set for customers because demand is growing over tattoos and most of the customers want tattoos as a way to have their corpses easily identified," said Khalaf.

Dr. Maher Abdul-Aziz, a dermatologist, told VOI that tattoos pose a threat to man's health particularly with the use of those old-fashioned ways as needles used to make tattoos are poorly sterilized.

"This could cause viral hepatitis, psoriasis or skin cancer and in some cases tattooed people are threatened with toxemia and eventually had their shoulder, leg or any other tattooed body part amputated," explained Dr. Abdul-Aziz.

Despite all these risks, most Iraqis who resort to tattoos have nothing else to do. The tough conditions in their country brought them to think of post-death time for they believe that death is coming anyway and that tattoos could serve then as IDs.