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October 12, 2006
Iraq: Muslims Behead Priest, Crucify Teenage Boy
The plight of Christians in Iraq has never been more difficult. Today in Mosul, the funeral was held of the Assyrian priest, Father Paulos Iskander (pictured). He had been kidnapped on Monday, states the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA). A ransom was posted for his return, set at either $250,000 or $350,000. The kidnappers demanded that notices be posted on the door of his church, apologizing for the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI, before any negotiations could start.
Father Iskander (Alexander) was beheaded on Wednesday. AINA posted an email sent by Father Adris Hanna, which we are reproducing, with apologies to the Swedish-based priest and AINA:
The Syriac-Orhtodox priest Paulos Iskandar was kidnapped this Monday, October 9, and beheaded today Wednesday October 11. The Bishop in Mosul wrote me an email tonight and told me that the funeral will be held in Mosul tomorrow.
Christians are living a terrified life in Mosul and Baghdad. Several priests have been kidnapped, girls are being raped and murdered and a couple of days ago a fourteen year old boy was crucified in the Christian neighborhood Albasra.
I have also spoken to a group of nuns that were robbed and treated brutally on their way between Baghdad to Amman in Jordan.
The murder of father Paulus is the final blow for Christians, and now only hell is expected for the Christians of Iraq.
We the oriental Christians in Sweden and the rest of the Western world must protest against the genocide. We must do what we can to stop the rape, threats, hatred, robberies, murders... We must do something.
Asia News reports on the funeral of Father Alexander, and also carries an account by the Archbishop of Kirkuk, which describes how the hope and enthusiasm which Iraqi Christians had when Saddam was deposed have been gradually replaced with despair as Muslims have tried to push them out of the country. Despite this, he urges his congregation to stay strong, and to be patient.
Security went from bad to worse and a hellish cycle of threats, abductions and death set in. People have become apprehensive and fearful. A shadow has been cast on the very presence of Christians in Iraq. Emigration has dispersed the family and weakened the determination of those who stayed behind........In Baghdad and Mosul, Christians are living in fear. Families don't know where to go - they feel isolated, without protection.We wrote in March of the plight of the Chaldean (also called Assyrian or Orthodox Syriac) Christian community in Iraq.
According to Abuna Andrao, a Chaldean Catholic bishop, "Desperation, hopelessness, and constant fear is forcing more and more Christians to flee Iraq. These people do not want to leave their country, however, they are forced to do so because of what's happening around them."
Before the fall of Saddam, there were a million Christians in Iraq, but by March this year, the number had dropped to 750,000. Catholics and Chaldean Catholics are equally affected by persecutions. We wrote in November last year of how Christians in Mosul were being forced to pay a tax - "jizyah" - or be killed or kidnapped. The figures which were expected to be paid were between $100,000 to $150,000, way beyond the means of those subjected to these demands. Unable to pay, many Christians, Chaldeans and Dominicans alike, were being forced to flee the country.
Chaldean priest Father Sabbah Patto said on a trip to Rome last year that some Muslim leaders were telling people not to buy homes nor property from Christians "because they will become free (at no cost) for people" after the Christian owners are forced to flee the area."
He said that some fundamentalist Muslims were spreading the notion that if any harm is given to an "unbeliever" - i.e. not a Muslim - "it's not a sin or there is no problem in it because the unbeliever is wrong." Father Patto said many of those who fled to Syria or Turkey found life in these countries impossible, not allowed papers or visas to leave, and eventually many were forced to return.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 12, 2006 7:54 PM
Comments
What is happening to Iraqi Christians is only a prelude to what will happen to non-Muslims everywhere else if Muslims are not stopped from invading other countries. Perhaps a final apocalyptic war between Muslims and non-Muslims is the only course of action available to us. Unfortunately, unlike me, most people are too afraid to realize this. That fear will the doom of everybody else!
Posted by: Christian ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 13, 2006 8:13 AM
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