「冬の娯楽」闘鶏、南部で根強い人気　イラク

【バスラ（イラク）ＡＦＰ＝時事】イラク南部の港湾都市バスラの薄暗いカフェで、たけり立ったおんどり２羽が薄汚れたカーペットを対峙（たいじ）しながら円を描くように歩く。狭い席に座った観客は、お茶をすすりながら２羽の闘いを見る。あたりはたばこと水たばこのにおいに満ちている。（写真はイラクのバスラで行われた闘鶏の様子）
　審判のリアド・アリさんによると、闘鶏の歴史は１９２０年代かそれ以前までさかのぼる。海外から持ち込まれたと考えられているという。
　動物虐待への懸念から、闘鶏は世界の多くの地域で禁止されている。だが、フィリピンからインドにかけてはありふれた光景であり、フランス北部などでも行われている。
　バスラでは数夜にわたり闘鶏が行われた。赤いとさかのおんどり２羽が、血のダンスを踊る。蹴ったりつつき合ったり。足や首に血の跡が残る。
　アリさんによると１試合は約１～２時間。おんどりが疲れたり、飼い主が退場させたりして終わる場合もある。
　カフェを訪れたナジ・ハムザさん（７０）は、サダム・フセイン大統領の独裁政権下で禁止されていたにもかかわらず、１９７０年代から闘鶏に参加していた。「カフェや公共の場ではなく、人里離れた民家でやっていた」と語った。
　イスラム教は賭け事を禁止している。イスラム教徒が多数を占めるイラクでは、飼い主が賭けることが多いが、観覧客が参加することもある。賭け金は１試合あたり、２万５０００～１０万イラク・ディナール（約２３００～９２００円）に上る。
　飼い主のムハンマドさん（５１）は「夕方にカフェに来て１、２時間過ごす。友達にも会える」「気晴らし、冬の娯楽だ」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/13-19:17）

Two vicious roosters circle a filthy carpet in southern Iraq, facing off for a cockfight that has drawn dozens to a dimly lit cafe in the port city of Basra.
This practice has been around since I was born in 1949, said referee Riad Ali, whose father introduced him to cockfighting when he was around 10.
The popular blood sport dates back to the 1920s or earlier in Basra and is thought to have arrived with boats at the port, he added.
Banned in many parts of the world due to concerns over animal cruelty, cockfighting has remained common from the Philippines to India, and is tolerated in areas including parts of northern France.
An AFP photographer witnessed several nights of fights in Basra, where red-crested roosters were locked in a violent dance, leaving smears of blood on their feet and neck as they leapt and pecked at each other.
Spectators on narrow seats near the red and yellow ring littered with feathers sipped tea as they watched, the smell of cigarettes and water pipes filling the air.
The avian bouts can last for an hour or two, and end when the birds are exhausted or when one of the owners withdraws his animal, said Ali, who has been an amateur cockfighting referee for around two decades.
Retiree Naji Hamza said he had been attending cockfights since the 1970s even though they were banned during the time of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former dictator who was toppled following a 2003 US-led invasion.
We were in secluded homes, not at a cafe or in public like now, said the 70-year-old.
Islam prohibits gambling, and in conservative, Muslim-majority Iraq it is usually the animals' owners who make wagers, putting down between 25,000 and 100,000 dinars ($17-$68) per fight -- though spectators sometimes have a flutter too.
Mohammed, a 51-year-old mechanic who declined to provide his surname, said he had had birds in the ring since the early 1990s, and bought his three roosters in Turkey for between $900 and $1,100 each.
We come to the cafe in the evening and spend an hour or two. We see our friends, he said.
It's a pastime, a leisure activity during winter, he added.