Amal al-Hilali - Tunisia

"The loss of the dead and the loss of the shroud", like a popular Tunisian taste of black comedy, is being circulated by many of those who have lost dear ones, after passing the living prices to the dead, by doubling the costs of building graves and maintaining them.

Uncle Mohammed al-Jalasi, who has been digging graves for decades, said that the price of building a single tomb has seen an unprecedented rise after 2011, a reference to the costs of basic materials, especially cement.

The prices of the tomb vary according to the size and materials used, especially with regard to the marble plaque that extends along the grave, and another on top of it to write the deceased's name, date of birth and death.

He pointed out that in the past years, the price of building the tomb did not exceed twenty dinars (seven dollars) to become today at the lowest possible price eighty dinars (27 dollars), but if the construction through a contractor may exceed the price three hundred dinars (one hundred dollars).

Uncle Mohammed is keen to clean and maintain the graves according to the wishes of relatives of the deceased (Al Jazeera)

The costs of the tomb, according to Uncle Mohammed, are not limited to the process of digging and construction, but rather to the painting and the continuous maintenance of the tombs, but he does not conceal that he sometimes does this work free of charge, only by the sincere invitation of the deceased's family.

Every day the man wanders among the graves, inspecting them, whitening some of them with white lime, removing the grass from the sides, and spending other days digging graves or reopening old ones in preparation for the bodies of the dead.

"The great problem is the overcrowding of the graves, which are beginning to narrow their populations, in return for the authorities not allocating space or land to build new graves, forcing the people of the dead to dig the old grave and collect the bones of the deceased and bury the new body."

Vespoky controversy
The controversy over the high prices of graves has been raised these days, following a decision by the municipal council of the governor of Nabeul, east of the capital, to raise the price of building graves from 120 to 250 dinars, sparking a storm of criticism,

"The high prices are chasing the citizen even in his death," said former presidential adviser Bulbaba Qazbar, mocking his Facebook page.

Activist Ahlam al-Rizki attacked the decision to increase the price of graves, asking the authorities to ask a cynical question about the continued fever of cemetery promotion by saying "Do you want us to die or wait for the season of discounts?"

And without Abdul Rahman al-Ayari through his Facebook page "to raise the prices of graves, even the dead did not escape the harm of the rulers."

Re-opening the tomb to bury new bodies in the shadow of the overcrowding of graves (Al Jazeera)

Unregulated sector
Higher construction of cemetery prices, Burra Alia Karim member of the municipal council of Nabeul - in a statement to the island Net - as evidenced by building materials from the rise in light of the devaluation of the dinar and increase the cost of labor.

He explained that the new price does not only include the construction of the tomb, but includes the process of maintenance of the cemetery and clean and guard, which can not be the municipality alone and resort to associations offering services in exchange for the task.

The construction and maintenance of the graves is still random and unorganized, says a member of Nabeul municipality, where many people, including business brokers and outsiders, are involved, which has contributed to their high prices.

He pointed out that prices vary, not only between the governorate and the other, but between a cemetery and a cemetery in the same geographical area, because of the absence of a binding law for all parties.