A Haircut In Iraq Can Be The Death Of The Barber

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New York Times
March 18, 2005
Pg. 1

A Haircut In Iraq Can Be The Death Of The Barber

By Robert F. Worth

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 17 - 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 Mr. Hussein cut hair.

Within seconds, the masked man opened fire, fatally wounding Mr. Hussein, 23, who lived long enough to describe the attack. The gunman also killed his partner and a customer.

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 "carré" 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.

Sadiq Abdul Hussein's killing, 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 his last hours in the hospital.

"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, Mr. Hussein said.

Mr. 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, doctors told Mr. Hussein that three other barbers in different parts of the city had been killed on the same day his son was killed, he said. 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," Mr. Hussein said. "This is not jihad. Jihad is defending your country, your honor, your faith."

Mr. Hussein, 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 helped to arrange a funeral procession for Sadiq in Doura, some of them firing AK-47 rifles in the air as they walked down the street, in a common Iraqi custom. Mr. Hussein, a former tank commander in Saddam Hussein's army, had been afraid to hold a public celebration.

Even now he lives in constant fear. No one in Doura even dares to speak out against the barbershop killings: "There is silence about this in the mosques," Mr. Hussein said.

As he told the story of his son's death, an AK-47 rifle leaned near him against the living-room wall.

"The man who shot my son, do you think he would hesitate to kill me?" he asked.

Other barbers in Doura are frightened, too. On two 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.

As for Safa Abdul Hussein, he has sworn to seek revenge, if he can find the man who killed his son."He broke my heart and I will break the heart of his father," he said. "I will not leave him alive even if I must bring heaven and earth together.

"There is a price to be paid for this: the Koran says an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Mona Mahmoud and John F. Burns contributed reporting for this article.