Three Christians Murdered in Iraq by Islamists

Three Iraqi Christians were murdered last Sunday and two others were injured in two separate incidents in the city of Kirkuk. These attacks take place in a context of intense hostility to Christians from militant Islamists. The following has been posted on various websites:

The General Secretariat of the Adherent of Islam Brigade has decided to address the final warning to … the infidel Christian Crusaders … and order you to leave immediately, in masses and permanently from the Muslim countries. There is no place for you infidel Christians among the Muslim believers in Iraq from now on. Otherwise, our swords will be legalized over your neck.

The letter is part of a determined Islamist campaign to drive out the Christian community from Iraq. Although the Christians, as ethnic Assyrians, are the indigenous people of Iraq, Muslim extremists are trying to “cleanse” the country of their supposedly defiling presence. In the face of threats such as these, which are often followed through in violence and even murder, the Christian population has dwindled from 1.5 million in 1990 and today may number no more than 400,000.

In the killings on Sunday 26 April in Kirkuk, which lies about 150 miles north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a Christian man, Yussef Saba, was shot dead, and two of his close relatives were injured. In the other attack a Christian woman and her daughter-in-law were murdered in their home.

The manner of the killings suggests premeditated execution, intended to send a warning to Iraqi Christians and foster a climate of fear. They recall the violence of last October in Mosul, when thousands of Christians fled from their homes in the northern city of Mosul. Fearing a similar exodus from Kirkuk, church and government leaders have called on the Christian community to stand firm and not be intimidated. The vice-president of Iraq has called upon Christians “not to leave the country” and has requested the international community to give “help and protection” against the militants.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Aid, said, “The murder of three Christians in Kirkuk proves once again that Islamist militants are quite capable of carrying out their threats against the Christian community. The forthcoming withdrawal of American troops from the country is likely to make the churches’ position even more perilous. They need our support to sustain them in their time of need.”

Taliban inspired attacks hit Christians

Compass Direct News reports

ISTANBUL – As Taliban control hits pockets of Pakistan and threatens the nation’s stability, Christians worry their province could be the next to fall under Islamic law. Read the rest of this entry »

Taliban Executes Two Christians in Karachi, Pakistan

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. ANS — An international Christian human rights watchdog organization has learned that the Taliban, emboldened by their success in Swat Valley and advance near Islamabad, have attacked a Christian neighborhood and executed two residents after Christians held a rally protesting graffiti ordering them to convert to Islam or die. Read the rest of this entry »

Convert Arrested for Marrying Christian

Compass Direct News reports:

ISTANBUL – Christian convert Raheal Henen Mussa and her Coptic husband are hiding from police and her Muslim family for violating an article of Islamic law (sharia) that doesn’t exist in the Egyptian penal code. Read the rest of this entry »

Converts Ordered to Stop Christian Activities

Compass Direct News reports:

Declaring three Iranian Christians guilty of cooperating with “anti-government movements,” a court in Shiraz on March 10 ordered the converts to discontinue Christian activities and stop propagating their faith.

An Islamic Revolutionary Court judge handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence with a five-year probation to Seyed Allaedin Hussein, Homayoon Shokouhi, and Seyed Amir Hussein Bob-Annari. The judge said he would enforce their prison sentence and try them as “apostates,” or those who leave Islam, if they violate terms of their probation – including a ban on contacting one another.

A new penal code under consideration by the Iranian Parliament includes a bill that would require the death penalty for apostasy.

“The warning that they will be ‘arrested and tried as apostates’ if they continue their Christian activities is quite chilling,” said a regional analyst who requested anonymity.

Full story at Compass Direct News.