Nawar Alrasam said he does not support terrorists and offered free inkings for just one month
Tattooist Nawar Alrasam says he offered signatures of Hassan Nasrallah to his Lebanese friends who repeatedly asked for it at his Liverpool parlour.
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A tattoo artist offering free inked signatures of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah insists he does not support the group claiming he offered the service because it was “good for business”.
Owner of Babylon Ink Tattoo Studio, Nawar Alrasam, an Assyrian Christian originally from Iraq, says he offered signatures of Nasrallah for a limited time to his Lebanese friends who requested it at his parlour in Liverpool, south-west Sydney.
Mr Alrasam says he dropped the promotion earlier this year but continues to tattoo images of Nasrallah for clients who ask.
Mr Alrasam – who wears a badge for the secret organisation the Freemasons - inked a profile Hamas’ propagandist and military spokesman Abu Obaida on a client’s chest in June.
The salon uploaded photos of its promotion and creations of Nasrallah and Obaida to its social media but then removed them in the face of a furious backlash.
“I did it to help my friends, I have a lot of Lebanese friends, I did it only for one month, it was good for business and the salon was new at the time,” said Mr Alrasam.
“I am far from Hamas, I do not support the war, I’m just doing my work, I have a lot of Lebanese friends who ask for this,” he said.
“I did the tattoos just to promote business as the salon was only seven months old,” he said.
His defence comes as a 20-year-old man with a Hezbollah tattoo on his neck was charged over the anti Semitic rampage in Sydney’s east as he tried to leave the country at Sydney Airport on the way to Thailand.
The escalation of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon throughout September prompted protesters across Australia to call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.
Liberal senator Dave Sharma said people seeking tattoos of terrorists have “exceptionally poor taste”.
“Even if not against the law, this is in exceptionally poor taste. No Australian should be glorifying or exalting the leaders of listed terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, or any terrorist organisation for that matter.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said: “People can illustrate their bodies however they choose but the shame of being a terrorist supporter will now follow them for life.
“They are telling the world they support evil and it will age on their skin with all of the grace of a giant swastika. This is where families and communities need to intervene to talk sense into the wayward,” he said.
Abu Obaida is a nom de guerre for propagandist and spokesman of Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
After Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, when the group massacred around 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage, he appeared in propaganda videos concealed behind a red keffiyeh scarf. His real name is believed to be Hudhayfah Kahlot.
Nasrallah was the former leader of Lebanon’s militant Shia Islamist movement and one of the most influential figures in the Middle East.
In September Hezbollah confirmed the 64-year-old had been killed in an air strike on Beirut.
Prior to his death, Nasrallah had not been spotted in public for many years because of fears of being assassinated by Israel.
After Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, when the group massacred around 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage, he appeared in propaganda videos concealed behind a red keffiyeh scarf. His real name is believed to be Hudhayfah Kahlot.
Nasrallah was the former leader of Lebanon’s militant Shia Islamist movement and one of the most influential figures in the Middle East.
In September Hezbollah confirmed the 64-year-old had been killed in an air strike on Beirut.
Prior to his death, Nasrallah had not been spotted in public for many years because of fears of being assassinated by Israel.
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