TARIQ AL MASRI
Tariq was born in 1986 in the small village of Mukaradeeb in Iraq, near the border with Syria. His father had been a musician, and his mother cared for and educated Tariq and his six siblings. They were raised in the Shea Muslim faith and lived far away from the religious sectarian fighting that the more densely populated areas of Iraq experienced. While the more unfortunate teenagers of Baghdad were learning to make war on the allied forces, Tariq was learning to play the guitar. Tariq and his family were often invited to village weddings to provide the musical entertainment. As most of their neighbours were poor people they were generally paid for their services with food and hospitality.
On May 19th 2004, a wedding was being celebrated in the village which formed a union between two of the largest families from the area the area. Traditional weddings in this part of the world involved the wedding party and their guests setting up large marquee type tents in the desert outside of the town itself. There the guests would eat and dance to the musicians` music for days. At 3 am on the 19th May, American forces bombed the wedding using helicopter gunships. Local accounts reported 42 men woman and children were killed in the attack. Amongst the towns dead were Tariq`s entire family.
A military representative for the coalition forces claimed that there was no evidence of a wedding taking place and this was a suspected foreign fighters` camp. A video that was made during a visit to the site of the massacre, which was made by members of the Associated Press, showed the remains of brightly coloured decorations and musical instruments. The remains of pots and pans and large quantities of food contradicted the military`s claims. The reports from local hospitals showed that the bodies of 13 dead children had been recovered from the bombed out tent.
The American Major General who was put in charge of the incident was challenged with the video evidence. He replied, “There may have been some kind of celebration going on but bad people have celebrations too.”
Tariq had been left an orphan. Once he had recovered from the extensive burns that he had received, the International Red Cross brought him to England. Tariq had been given an administration job at the mosque in Warrington, mainly thanks to the schooling that his dead mother had given him. His grief had turned to hatred during his rehabilitation and soon his hatred was harnessed by the extremists in the community. He had plotted and planned with the conspirators and he used his position in the mosque to mask their activities. Too late he had realised that what was being planned would cause misery and death to more innocent people. He decided that he could no longer be a part of that process. His decision cost him his life. Now the end of his tragic journey had brought his headless mutilated body to the coroner’s table.
The coroner Graham Libby switched on his tape recorder and proceeded with his autopsy report.
“The subject is a young male, between the ages of 20 and 35 years old. He is of Asian or Middle Eastern origin. The body weighs approximately ten stones, the approximations are because the body is missing the head and both hands.
Cause of death was shock and massive haemorrhaging caused by a wound to the throat. The wounds to the arms were inflicted post mortem. The removal of the head was carried out with a saw of some description, again post mortem.”
Grace Farrington was attending the autopsy on The Major`s instruction. He was desperate to know if the body belonged to Tariq.
“Can you estimate when he died?” Faz asked.
“It`s difficult say because the body has been in the water. The body has gone through different stages of putrefaction but the limbs are less putrefied than the trunk. Bodies pass through certain stages of disintegration but the water could have accelerated the process. Hypostasis, or lividity, starts about four hours after death. It is caused by the sinking of red corpuscles in the blood to the lowest part of the body. If the body were found standing for instance, hypostasis would be in the legs and feet. The general discoloration of the skin and the fact that the body has no rigor mortis leads me to believe that the subject was dead at least 18-hours before it was put into the river. Putrefaction has begun and the body is stained and is starting to distend. Several of the internal organs have started to burst so we are looking at least a week or more, definitely not more than two weeks.”
“That would fit into our missing person profile. How can you be so sure that he has not been dead longer than two weeks?” Faz asked. She wanted to be sure that this was Tariq. There had been enough mistakes made already.
“There are maggots here around the neck wound. They are the third stage larvae of the common bluebottle fly. The bluebottle fly only lays eggs on fresh meat so we can safely deduce that the eggs were laid within 24-hours of death. The larvae become new flies within twelve days. These little fellows are still wriggling about in here so I can assume they are not twelve days old yet.”
“What about identification can you match the tissue to the DNA samples from Warrington?” Faz asked trying to avoid looking at the wriggling maggots.
“The test results are not back yet but we know that he is the same blood group. I will call you as soon as they are returned.”
Faz turned and left the laboratory. She took off the gloves and sterile gown and placed them into an industrial laundry bin. She checked her hair in a mirror that was fixed to the wall above a small hand sink. She was pleased with the image that she saw and she smiled. Faz was almost certain that the body in the mortuary was Tariq al Masri. They knew that he had his throat slashed and that the removal of the limbs and head were post mortem.
Faz considered the removal of the head was to hamper the identification of the body. There was another reason that needed to be considered though. The removal of the head was commonplace amongst the Islamic extremists in Iraq. It seemed that these groups deemed it to be the ultimate affront to a human being to be beheaded, and Grace had looked at the possibility that Yasser Ahmed and his affiliates were sending some kind of message.
In 2004 a Korean translator, an Italian photographer and two Bulgarian truck drivers were all beheaded by extremists in Iraq. The message was clear that foreign workers risked their lives if they chose to work in Iraq. If it was considered that they were in any way aiding or working for the coalition forces then they were legitimate targets. In 2005, more beheading occurred including the decapitation of two Algerian and one Egyptian diplomat, all three were Muslim. The fact that it was seen that they were cooperating with the occupying armies was enough to condemn them to a terrible death. Perhaps poor Tariq had been beheaded for similar reasons. Grace could not be certain of the motives behind his death but she was certain that Yasser Ahmed was responsible. She headed back to the office.