Shave and a haircut: A killing matter in Iraq By Robert F. Worth (The New York Times) Updated: 2005-03-23 09:30
It was almost closing time in Sadiq Abdul Hussein's barbershop when a man in
a black mask walked in, pulled out a pistol and began spinning it on his finger,
cowboy style. . The gunman was not after government officials or American
collaborators. He had come because of the way Hussein cut hair. . Within
seconds, the masked man opened fire, fatally wounding Hussein, 23, his partner
and a customer. The killer then ran outside to a waiting sedan and sped
away. . In southern Baghdad, the hazards of life have come to this: Gangs
of militant Islamists are warning barbers that it is haram - forbidden - to
shave men's beards or do Western-style haircuts.
As many as 12 barbers have been killed, Iraqi officials say, including five
in one day in late January.
With little hope of police protection, most now refuse to offer the offending
cuts, and have placed prominent signs in their front windows saying
so. . On a recent afternoon, a barber who gave his name only as Ahmad
stood over a customer, scissors in hand, glancing nervously out the front window
of his shop.
One of the two leather barber's chairs sat empty, and on the walls were
mirrors and photographs of handsome young men with glistening newly cut hair, as
in any Western salon. . "One morning about three months ago I came to the
shop and found a handwritten note with a bullet," he said. . The note
warned him that it was forbidden to shave men's beards, or to do facial massages
or the French-style haircuts known as the "carre" and the "spiky." The note also
warned him not to offer hiffafa, the Iraqi practice in which barbers use a
length of thread to pull out the small hairs on the face and give a closer
shave. If he ignored the warning, he would be killed, the note said. . The
killings and threats are not the first efforts in Iraq to enforce a
Taliban-style religious rule.
In Falluja, armed mujahedeen ran an Islamic police state for several months
before the American invasion last year, punishing beardless men and any women
who dared to go out with their heads uncovered. In southern Iraq, Shiite
militants have attacked liquor stores and sometimes killed those who ignored
their threats. . In Baghdad, the killings and threats have been
concentrated in Doura, a working-class neighborhood dominated by the four
towering smokestacks of a power plant.
Even in the generally lawless capital, Doura stands out as a war zone. At
least a dozen police officers and government officials have been killed there in
the past two weeks, usually by gunmen who drive up and spray their target with
automatic weapons fire. . With so much violence, the police in Doura say
there is little they can do to protect the barbers. They have investigated a few
cases, and have found that some of the killers appear to be professionals who
are paid as much as $200 a hit, said one police official, who refused to give
his name out of fear that he would become a target. . "The police get paid
$140 a month," the officer said. "You need money to investigate these cases, and
we don't have it." . At the main Doura police station, there is only one
phone line, and it is unreliable, he added. Virtually the only information the
police get comes from victims' families, who call or even walk into the station
to tell their stories. . The killing of Sadiq Abdul Hussein, which took
place on Jan. 23, was unusual in that he remained conscious for 24 hours before
he died, and he was able to describe the attack in detail to the police.
There were four men involved - two in the car outside, one watching on the
street and the killer - and there were witnesses. Nevertheless, the police say
they have made no progress in the case. . Safa Abdul Hussein sat with his
son through the barber's last hours. . "He said to me, 'Dad, will you help
me?"' the father recalled. . "I said, 'God will help you."' The son - who
had always been devoutly religious - then raised his hands above his chest and
prayed, the father said. . The elder Hussein, a 53-year-old welder whose
beard is flecked with gray, broke into tears a few times as he told his son's
story, burying his face in his hands.
He sat wearing a gray welder's jumpsuit on a couch across from his wife and
daughter in the family's small living room in Doura, a few blocks from where his
son used to work. . At the hospital, the father said, doctors told him
that three other barbers in different parts of the city had been killed on the
same day as his son.
There may well have been other killings, police officials say, but no one has
the resources to keep count. . "I think these people are terrorists,
because the Koran says nothing about it being forbidden to shave beards," the
elder Hussein said. "This is not jihad. Jihad is defending your country, your
honor, your faith." . The father, a Shiite Muslim, said he believed the
killing might have been part of a broader campaign against Shiites. . He
said he was especially grateful that Sunni neighbors had helped to arrange a
funeral procession for his son in Doura, some of them firing AK-47 rifles into
the air as they walked down the street, an Iraqi custom. The father, a former
tank commander in Saddam Hussein's army, had been afraid to hold a public
celebration. No one in Doura even dares to speak out against the barbershop
killings: "There is silence about this in the mosques," the father
said. . Other barbers in Doura are frightened. During recent trips through
the neighborhood, many shops were empty, and most had signs in front saying they
did not offer the offending cuts and shaves, which are very popular among Iraqi
men. . Customers know about the threats, and no longer request beard
shaves or anything of the kind, said the barber who gave his name as Ahmad. It
has hurt business. His monthly take has gone from $300 to about $100, he said.
Some barbers have closed up shop.
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