Tattoos, once the domain of the low-life criminals, hard drinkers and gamblers of Baghdad, now serve a practical purpose for ordinary Iraqis.

Middle-class men are getting tattoos to spare their families the misery of visiting morgues and police stations in vain for loved ones abducted by death squads or killed in a bombing.

They believe that the markings will act as a human bar-code and help their families to identify them. At least 200 unclaimed bodies are buried every week in Iraq.

Tattoo shops have gone underground, considered suspect by militias and the police because of their associations with the underworld. One shop that The Times visited, in the Shia Zaiyuna neighbourhood, shut down recently after being threatened by police and Shia gunmen.

Abu Maisa, a 32-year-old security guard, began to think about getting a tattoo last July. “I noticed the rate of explosions and kidnappings had gone up. I wanted to have a special signal to lead my family to recognise my body if something happened to me, if my body was disfigured or cut into pieces.”

Mr Maisa’s friend, who had a tattoo, led him to a shop where he picked out a lion’s head. He liked the lion because it symbolised courage. The drawing was printed on to his upper right arm, where it would be easy to hide and avoid criticism from religious conservatives, including relatives. Even so, he asked his parents’ permission.

“The society regards anyone with a tattoo as coming from a broken family but after a deep discussion with my family about how to recognise me if something happened to me and how much suffering they would face afterwards, I convinced them,” he said.

Mr Maisa confessed that he had a fashion motive. “I believe this a new trend for modern people like all the famous artists and sportsmen around the world,” he said.

But the desire to copy the trend of flashy Western athletes is a secondary consideration. Wissam Khudair, 26, was working last spring in a security firm when he noticed tattoos on his fellow bodyguards. Confronted with Baghdad’s daily dose of suicide car bombs and kidnappings, he thought that it made good sense, and then a tragic event made up his mind.

“One of my closest friends was kidnapped and his family spent weeks looking for his body in the morgue and hospitals inside and outside Baghdad.” Mr Khudair wanted to spare his family such a fate.

At first, his parents resisted the tiger tattoo he picked out, but when he told them how his friend’s body was never found, they relented.

His fiancée was easier to convince. “She is still young so she likes modern things. She loves me because I am a good football player, and she is also a fan of the famous English football player David Beckham and likes the tattoo on his neck.”

Some have used Baghdad’s violence as the perfect excuse to have the body art, which has long been treated as a taboo subject. Adnan Kurdi, a 28-year-old bodyguard and fan of action movies, decided that a tattoo would be the perfect fit for his macho image. “Being a bodyguard is an exciting and adventurous career,” he said. His wife was not as impressed and told him that tattoos were disgusting, but he was not deterred.

In his dark moments, Ahmed, 25, is haunted by his father’s joke. The chicken farmer would tease Ahmed, telling him that he planned to get a tattoo in case Baghdad’s terror claimed him as a victim.

Six months ago his father and his 16-year-old brother were abducted.

The kidnappers broke off contact with Ahmed after the family had gathered ransom money and wanted proof that the pair were still alive. Ahmed has had no news from them in five months.

His mother and sisters would cry and beg him not to give up. Even now, he goes out searching for them. “Before turning on my car engine, I would ask my brother-in-law who usually accompanied me, ‘What is wiser — to go to the morgue or get a tattoo first?’.”

- The Iraqi judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death has asked for asylum in Britain, saying that he feared for his life, the television station Al-Jazeera reported last night. It said that Raouf Abdel Rahman had asked for asylum after going to Britain with his family in mid-December on a visitor’s visa. Saddam was executed on December 30 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.

Historic art

- In 1991 a 5,000-year-old body, named Ötzi the Iceman, was found preserved in Austria. His skin bore 57 tattoos

- In 1948 Sergei Rudenko, a Russian archaeologist, discovered a group of mummies dating back 2,400 years who bore tattoos of animals that were thought to reflect the status of each individual

- The Maori of New Zealand use tattoos to convey distinction. Called “moko”, the facial markings can convey status, lines of descent or tribal affiliations

Source: www.designboom.com

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