BAGHDAD, November 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Some had their tongue pulled out, others an ear chopped off, and yet others had an X tattooed on their forehead.

Iraqis mutilated by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, notably for deserting the army, are now seeking compensation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Thanks to the newly-formed Association of Ear and Tongue Amputees and Tattooed People, Saad Kazem Abdelwahed, 28, knows he is no longer a second-class citizen.

On October 10, 1994, his right ear was cut off for deserting the army.

"We did not desert to betray our country and our people, but because we opposed Saddam's policies and his passion for war," said Haidar Mohammed, 36, who suffered the same fate as Abdelwahed and heads the 3,600-strong group.

"Not only was the ear chopped off but a deserter would also lose his ration card," he said.

Ration cards were introduced after international sanctions were imposed in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

"His identity papers would be replaced by a document that stated: 'right ear cut for desertion'," said Saadun Naim, another victim of the punishment practiced before Saddam was ousted by a U.S.-led occupation forces on April 9.

"Anyone who uttered the slightest criticism of the regime, represented by the president or one of its members, had their tongue cut off," he said.

The association, he said, aimed to restore victims' dignity and their rights.

It has requested its members be given compensation, jobs and monthly rations.

It has also asked the health ministry to organize plastic surgery for those who had an X, or the word "dishonored", tattooed on their foreheads.

"We want to reclaim their rights before public offices and humanitarian organizations to extricate them from the abyss in which they sank," said human rights lawyer Yehya Abdelmohsen al-Itabi.

Naim said some Iraqis were punished simply for leaving home without ID cards. "Some were mutilated even after an amnesty was announced." In such cases, the defense ministry would simply send a letter of apologies.

Of the young men who were mutilated, most cannot find a wife "because Iraqi families refuse to give them their daughters," said Naim.

"All I want," says Abdelwahed, "is to regain my dignity and feel I am a citizen like any other, and not like a criminal."

"I want people to respect me and recognize that what I did was just."

He has tears in his eyes as he recounts how he lost an ear. "I tried to flee, but the guards hit me and drugged me. I woke up in a cell, with one ear missing.

"That day was the beginning of my tragedy. Every day I looked at myself in the mirror. What I saw prevented me from going out into the street."

A newly formed Iraqi Association of Ear and Tongue Amputees and Tattooed People is now seeking compensation for Iraqis mutilated by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, notably for deserting the army.