June 7, 2007
IRAQ: DIRE NEED FOR SAFE HAVEN FROM GENOCIDE
After celebrating evening mass on Sunday 3 June, Fr Ragheed Ganni (35) left Mosul's Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit at 6.40pm with his three young and vibrant sub-deacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, Gassan Isam Bidawed, and Gassan's wife. As their car approached the corner it was ambushed by armed Islamic militants who pulled the Christians out of the car, ordered Gassan's wife to stand clear and then shot the four men dead.
Fear of Islamic militants and snipers caused church members to wait until 10pm before they could retrieve the bodies under the cover of darkness. Fr Ganni, who was born in Mosul, northern Iraq, held degrees in engineering and theology. According to Compass Direct, he had recently declined the opportunity to do further study in Rome, choosing to remain with his congregation which had declined by 70 percent over recent years, due to emigration as Christians with means flee their homeland. Mosul's Church of the Holy Spirit had received many threats and was bombed on 27 May. On 28 May Fr Ganni told Asia News, 'We are on the verge of collapse.' The death of these church leaders will have an enormous, devastating impact on the remnant Christian community in Mosul.
The situation for Christians in Iraq is almost beyond words. In the major cities of Baghdad (centre) and Al-Basrah (south) traditionally Christian districts have been almost completely ethnically and religiously 'cleansed'. Both Sunni and Shiite criminals and militants threaten the Christians. In the Sunni regions Christians are increasingly being targeted by the al-Qaeda-affiliated 'Islamic State in Iraq'. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) quoted the Iraqi daily 'Al-Bayyinah' report on 10 May that there are some 200 Saudi gunmen terrorising the remnant Christians in al-Durah (the Christian district of Baghdad), demanding jizya (tribute mandated in the Quran, Sura 9:29). If Christians refuse they must convert to Islam and give their daughters to the mujahideen for marriage. If they choose to flee, they must forfeit all their possessions to the mujahideen. The 'Islamic State in Iraq' is also extorting enormous payments from Christians wanting to stay and huge 'exit' fees from those choosing to flee. According to RFE/RL, 27 churches have been destroyed since 2003 and dozens of other churches and monasteries have been abandoned due to threats and terrorism.
Most of Iraq's remnant and displaced Christians are now in the relatively less dangerous northern Iraq. However, a major conflagration between Turkey, Kurdish separatists and nationalists, and Arabs (al-Qaeda / Sunni nationalists / Shiite nationalists) may be imminent. Turkey has massed troops at the Iraq border and some shelling has begun. On 2 June saboteurs (probably Sunni) bombed the Sarhat Bridge, a vital link between Kurdish territory in the north and Baghdad. As one observer lamented to AINA (Assyrian International News Agency), 'Unless something is done and quickly, the lasting legacy of this war will be the genocide of the Christians and other minorities of Iraq.'
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