the long night

The genocide of Christians is being ignored by the Western media, as a darkness descends over the country of Iraq

Iraq’s Christians continue to suffer hardships persecution and discrimination – and urgently need our support. I started campaigning for Iraqi Christians in 2003, shortly after the US-British invasion of Iraq. Soon after that event Islamic extremists started to conduct ruthless, relentless attacks against Iraq’s Christians.

Systematic Persecution

The Western media largely ignored these atrocities against Christians that amounted to Genocide and only paid attention when eleven years later Islamic State (ISIS) captured Mosul and large areas of Iraq. This gave the misleading impression that the intense persecution against Iraq’s Christians started with the capture of Iraqi territory by ISIS in 2014, when in reality the terrible suffering of the Iraqi Christians had begun as far back as 2003.

I have visited Iraq on a number of occasions to research the situation of the Christians. I came across many tragic and horrific accounts of Anti-Christian persecution and atrocities. These included a very sad Christian man that I interviewed whose son had been kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic extremists. His son’s murder was filmed and a DVD of it left in the garden of the victim’s father. Imagine the father’s horror when he watched the DVD, not knowing its contents.

Then there was the mother I interviewed whose husband was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while coming home from church. A few weeks’ later Muslim extremists kidnapped her daughter who has not been seen since – presumed dead. The mother wept uncontrollably in front of me. Even my translator started to cry.

And the grandmother whose son was kidnapped by extremists and was missing, presumed dead. This elderly lady would not rest until she found her son, dead or alive. She had travelled across Iraq from one mortuary to another looking for her son’s remains but at the time that I interviewed her she had still not found him. She described to me some of the awful things she had seen in the mortuaries including bodies blown to pieces. I felt so sorry for her that at an age when she should have been taking things easy she instead had to undertake such a hellish journey.

Tragedies

A military unit under Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP – The Kurdish political party that governs Iraqi Kurdistan.) control has been identified by an Iraqi government investigation as being responsible for the murder of these Christians. Before these murders there were already over 12,000 internally displaced Christian families in northern Iraq, driven out of their homes by relentless anti-Christian violence.

There are numerous tragic accounts of Iraq’s Christians’ indescribable suffering. Below are just a few examples:

• Islamic militants stormed a church service in Baghdad on October 31, 2010, and took the congregation hostage. In the ensuing botched rescue attempt by Iraqi security forces at least 44 Christians were killed and 60 injured.
• D, a five and a half year old Iraqi Christian girl was living in Baghdad when she was kidnapped and raped until the ransom of US $13,000 was paid. She had been held for seven days. Since that incident she has been too traumatised to speak.
• Two Christian sisters were kidnapped in 2005 in Baghdad, aged 25 and 23. Both were raped daily for three months, by five Muslim men. The kidnappers were paid a ransom of US$52,000, yet one of the women was deliberately and severely disfigured before being returned.
• A 21 year old from Baghdad was kidnapped in April 2006. Held for 13 days she was raped daily. A ransom of US $19,000 was paid by her family. Just before handing her over, the kidnappers badly cut her face.
• A one and a half year old baby was held in his Christian mother’s arms while she sat by the street, in Baghdad. A car suddenly came along and the Muslims inside grabbed the baby from her hands and drove off. These extremists called the mother and demanded an impossible ransom of US $200,000, which she couldn’t afford. Her husband had been shot dead a year before. Eventually the kidnappers beheaded the baby returning evidence to his mother in a box.

All the above-mentioned atrocities occurred years before ISIS captured large swathes of Iraq.

Help

But even amidst the extensive tragedy in Iraq, Christians have been able to do a lot to help each other. The Assyrian Aid Society (AAS) is the leading Christian charity in Iraq. Established by Iraqi Christians in 1991 – in the chaotic aftermath of the first Gulf War – it was set up to serve their community.

In addition to providing emergency relief such as food and medicine, the AAS want to provide Iraq’s Christians with appropriate and sustainable living, educational and economic conditions. The AAS has implemented numerous projects to support the Christian community, including reconstruction of villages and infrastructure, irrigation systems, housing and shelter and resettlement support for internally displaced persons (IDPs), giving assistance to victimized Christian families and helping with agricultural development.

In the aftermath of ISIS’ defeat in Iraq, the AAS has been helping remaining Christians return to their homes and rebuild their lives. One of the main Christian settlements in Iraq is in the Nineveh Plain. ISIS occupied the Christian villages there in 2014. Although ISIS was eventually driven out they destroyed the villages before they left, making return and resettlement even harder for the displaced. Below are some of the activities undertaken by the AAS to help the Christians in the Nineveh Plain:

• Implement campaigns to clean the villages,
• Provide electrical supplies, other necessities and one medical mobile unit for Al-Hamdania General Hospital,
• Provide water wells, and refurbish the water supply network,
• Provide household items, furniture and air coolers,
• Provide office supplies & furniture for a Christian school, the Mar Afram Secondary,
• Provide food and personal hygiene items,
• Provide school supplies to students,
• Provide Christmas presents to children

Kurdish Area

In the region of northern Iraq run by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) the situation of the Christians is also very difficult. So far at least 58 Christian villages in the KRG region have had their land illegally misappropriated by the Kurds. Not only have the Kurdish authorities repeatedly failed to ensure that the Christian-owned land is returned but they themselves have on various occasions engaged in such illegal misappropriation of land.

The Kurdish authorities have also failed to treat Christians equally and fairly in the provision of electricity, water and other basic necessities. Such discriminatory pressures are causing even more Christians to leave Iraq and migrate, further shrinking the Iraqi Christian community. Before the US-British invasion of Iraq in 2003 there were about 1.2 million Christians in that country. Today there are only less than 300,000 Christians left in Iraq.

In October 2018 a church leader based in the USA visited Iraq to examine the situation of the Christians. He said that the Kurds were stealing Christianowned land and building homes in areas not belonging to them. He believed that it was a systematic policy of the KRG because Kurds were saying to the Christians, “Why should I purchase your property when I can get it for free once you leave?” The Muslim Kurds were applying all kinds of pressure on the Christian villagers to abandon their homes.

A Call

What will we do to help this longsuffering Christian community to rebuild their lives and remain in their ancient homeland? This courageous Christian remnant is caught between the violence of Islamic extremists and the greedy ambitions of the Kurds.

Please give generously to help them now before it is too late and Iraq’s ancient Christian community becomes extinct. Please also pray for them. If you wish to join the campaign for Iraq’s voiceless Christians, E-mail me at: wilfred.wong@btopenworld.com

Every member of the Body of Christ has a duty to care for other members of the Body who are suffering. (1 Corinthians 12:25 to 27)

It is a solemn duty placed by God upon all members of Christ’s Body. (Galatians 6:10)

You can help Iraq’s Christians by giving to the crucial work of the Assyrian Aid Society. Please make a cheque out to: Agape International and send it to: Agape International, 30 Pied Bull Court, Galen Place, London WC1A 2JR. Enclose with your cheque a note stating that the money is for Christians in Iraq. All donations will be passed on in full to the AAS in Iraq.