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November 9, 2005
Priests say Iraqi Christians now victims of extortion, even death
Topics: IraqTwo Iraqi priests have reported that Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have become the victims of extortion as unknown terrorist groups threaten to kill them or kidnap family members if they do not pay large sums of cash. This isn't the first time that kidnappings have been reported, you'll recall that in January of this year, a Catholic archbishop was also kidnapped in Mosul.
One 43-year-old Christian man, married with three children, "was killed last week because he didn't pay," said Dominican Father Mekhail Nageeb of Nineveh, near Mosul.After a group of unidentified men went to the man's workplace to extract money from him, "he tried not to pay and he ran out, so they killed him," said the Iraqi-born priest, who is the Dominicans' superior in Mosul.
Father Nageeb said he knows about "more than 10 or 15 people" in Mosul who have been forced to pay exorbitant sums of money to anonymous groups who have threatened to kill the victim or abduct family members.
The amount of money terrorists demand from an individual can run anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000, he said, forcing many to sell their homes, furnishings, properties or beg relatives or neighbors for cash. Others, he said, simply flee Iraq for a brief period in the hopes of escaping the threats.
Chaldean Father Sabah Patto, who was visiting Rome, told CNS that Christians are sometimes told they are paying a "protection tax."
He said the terrorists tell them, "We are protecting you, so you have to pay us."Father Patto said some Muslim religious leaders in Mosul were telling people to not buy homes or property from Christians "because they will become free (at no cost) for people" after the Christian owners are forced to flee the area.
Muslim elements "are encouraging the Christians to leave their country and to leave their properties and everything, and nobody is buying from them..."
Father Nageeb confirmed this was happening and said that in the neighborhood of al-Saha in Mosul, "there are more than 20 or 30 homes without people living in them" after the Christian homeowners left the country.
Muslim families have asked him to take over the properties since they are empty, but he does not accept their requests. Instead he tells the families the homeowners have just temporarily left and plan to return.
Father Nageeb said other anonymous groups sweep neighborhoods, canvassing for cash "because they want to buy guns and explosives to use against the Americans."
When asked why Christians were the target of extortion and forced migration, Father Patto said it is because some fundamentalist Islamic groups fuel the notion that "if they do something against an unbeliever," that is, someone who does not believe in the Quran, "it's not a sin or there is no problem in it because the unbeliever is wrong." - read more,
Related:
"Christians under Saddam suffered persecution"
After Saddam, Trouble for Iraqi Christians?
Christian History Corner: Iraqi Christians' Path of Persecution
Posted by Richard at November 9, 2005 4:50 PM
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