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With bare hands, Muhammad al-Bahadli dug the burning sands of the Iraqi desert, to extract the body of his father, who died at the age of eighty after being infected with Covid-19, to transfer it to the family cemetery after the emission of a governmental decision that allowed him to do so.
“Now he will be with our family and relatives in the old cemetery,” in Najaf, 180 kilometers south of Baghdad, al-Bahadli told AFP, amid the tears of several of his relatives who gathered around the body wrapped in cloth. and fresh from the grave.
For months, the Iraqi authorities prevented the burial of the dead from the Crown epidemic in cemeteries chosen by their families for fear of the continued outbreak of the disease in places frequented by visitors.
Instead, a “Corona Cemetery” was established in a desert area, where volunteers in protective suits bury victims of this epidemic under strict measures, including burials at a depth of five meters.
Only one person in the family of the deceased can attend the fast-paced funeral and burial ceremonies, which often take place at midnight.
During the last months, this cemetery received the deceased from different regions of Iraq and from all religious sects, including Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.
Al-Bahadli said of his father’s burial ceremony that he was “buried in a very remote place, and he was not sure if the ceremony was carried out according to the legal method.”
After Iraqi authorities announced on September 7 that those who had died from Covid-19 could be buried in cemeteries of their families’ choice, hundreds of families on Thursday headed to the “Corona Cemetery,” located near the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
They brought with them their shovels, woven baskets to carry sand when digging their relatives’ graves, and new wooden coffins to transport the bodies to another grave.
During the morning hours, the sounds of crying and mourning prayers, mixed with the blows of spikes.
Specialized health teams
Iraq is one of the Middle Eastern countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 epidemic, which has infected more than 280,000 people and killed another 8,000 so far, according to official data.
However, on September 4, the World Health Organization announced that people who died from this disease were less likely to transmit the infection by dealing with remains.
A few days later, the growing demands of the population led the authorities to announce that the bodies of the deceased would be transferred from the “Crown Cemetery”, provided it was carried out by “specialized health teams.”
This decision revealed the random burials that took place in this cemetery.
An AFP correspondent claimed that there were no medical personnel or signs to help families locate the graves of their relatives so that they were easily accessible.
Sometimes families found nothing more than an empty coffin inside a tomb with the name of one of their relatives, or they were surprised by the body of a young man inside a tomb where the body of their elderly mother was supposed to lie. .
Other bodies were not covered with “shrouds” according to Islamic law.
This unleashed the anger of the families towards the armed groups supported by the State, which in recent months have been burying the victims of this epidemic, prompting some of them to set fire to a nearby headquarters of one of these groups.
For his part, Abdullah Karim, whose brother Ahmed was kidnapped by this epidemic, told France Press that “this chaos will cause problems among the families of the deceased,” explaining that “most of the gravediggers have no experience in digging and burying and they don’t know how to locate graves. “
Karim, who came from Muthanna province, 230 km south of Baghdad, prefers not to rebury his brother if he contradicts religious provisions.
The dream came true
The deceased is supposed to be buried in accordance with the provisions of Islamic law as soon as possible, and this usually takes place within twenty-four hours. The reburial of the dead is not prohibited, but their decisions are not clear.
A source at the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq told France Press that “if an indecent assault does not occur when the grave is exhumed, then there is no objection to moving it” to another location.
But there were no clergymen at the families’ meeting on Friday to guide them through the correct way to dig the graves, according to an AFP correspondent.
Despite all this, families are relieved by the closure of the cemetery.
“Since my father was buried in this cemetery, I remember his words when I called on the phone. He told me: ‘Try to bury me in the family cemetery, don’t keep me away from my family and relatives,” a man who only told France Press He mentioned his first name, Hussein, 53.
Hussein carried his father’s body in his hands to be transported to the “Wadi al-Salam” cemetery, where the Shiites prefer to bury their dead. “I have had a dream for several months of burying my father in the family cemetery,” he said with a sigh.
