Baghdad, March 05 (QNA) – leader of the most influential faction in Iraq Moqtada Al-Sadr has described participation in the parliamentary election is a kind of ”political resistance.” A statement distributed here Friday by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political authority, Al Sadr said ,” these elections of this year , I consider them a political resistance if we run and exercise them in the most appropriate and unified form possible.” So, unite, people of Iraq, for the liberation of Iraq politically and for the service of your people”, said al Sadr in his statement.

Source: QNA | Politics | Participation in Iraqi Parliamentary Elections is a Political Resistance, Says Al Sadr

Pope Benedict XVI recently expressed his concern about violent attacks on Christians by extremists in Iraq.

Three Christians were killed in Mosul last week and two women were raped. The victims included a father and son who were killed in their home. At least eight Christians have been murdered since mid-February.

"Now the army and the police are knocking on our doors from time to time to be sure that we are doing well," the bishop told AKI.

Nona said the church did not have any preference about the election outcome but looked forward to an improvement in the quality of life in Iraq.

"The church has no particular political orientation or any preference for a given person or list (of candidates), " he said.

"The only thing that interests us is the general well-being of the country. Christians like other members of our society are exercising their right to vote for whoever they believe deserves it, in total freedom and without any directive or pressure from anyone."

The Mosul bishop said it was difficult to predict the outcome of the vote.

"The Iraqi people are counting on this election and hoping for an improvement," he told AKI. "The situation has become extremely complex and people have had enough of the tension."

He said following recent attacks, 800 Christian families had fled from Mosul to surrounding villages and most of them were waiting until after the election before they returned home.

"This election will help to bring about a return to normality in the country, so that people can return to their daily life and the church can go forward with its mission."

Last week’s brutal killings were the latest in a spate of murders targetting Christians ahead of Sunday’s election, which is being seen as crucial test of democracy in a country wracked by sectarian strife.

It is not clear if the spikebis in attacks against Christians is an attempt at voter intimidation by factions involved in a violent territorial and power struggle between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul or another attempt by Al-Qaeda to derail the election.

Christians number around 250,000 to 300,000 in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is capital.

Source: Iraq: Bishop welcomes greater security ahead of poll – Adnkronos Religion

As I wrote yesterday Irak’s Christians, particularly those in Mosul planned to several demonstrations to protest that they are yet again being hunted down, murdered, and forced to flee their homes and their livelihoods. The scale of the catastrophe that is befalling the Christians of Irak in general and Mosul in particular is staggering. As I wrote three days ago in Mosul’s Christians Are Being Hunted, Murdered, And Forced To Flee (With Updates) | Gorilla’s Guides:

The reality is catastrophically worse. Hundreds of Christian families have fled their homes in the last two days in Mosul and it’s suburbs in terror for their lives.

Hundreds of families adds up to thousands of people As OCHA report in Iraq: Displacement in Mosul Situation Report No. 1 – 28 February 2010:

Following a series of attacks by unidentified armed groups against Christians in Mosul in Ninewa governorate during January and February 2010, some 683 Christian families (4,098 people) became displaced between 20 and 27 February 2010; most of the displacement occurred between 24 and 27 February.

That works out at roughly 1,000 people a day trying to escape the city in which they risk being hunted down and slaughtered by fleeing their homes.

Today Iraki Christians commemorated Archbishop Rahho and protested the latest wave of ethnic cleansing being launched against them. I saw the demonstration in Baghdad. It was in Firdous Square and consisted of a few dozen people carrying Iraki flags and shouting "Stop the killing of Christians".

The main demonstrations were by Mosul’s Christians There were protests in:

• al-Batniya
• al-Koush (al Qoush)
• Bartalla
• Hamdaniya
• Mosul
• Tal Keef
• Tal Lasfaqa

Of these the biggest was in Hamdaniya — about 1,000 people took part led by their priests. The next largest was in Koush where several hundred people took place in a silent protest. Priests, bishops, archbishops, and even Cardinal Delly all spoke and all demanded concrete action be taken to protect their flock but on the basis of past experience they surely new that neither the government nor their tormentors would pay any heed.

The protests did not pass completely unnoticed, Reuters did reports both in Arabic and in English as did KUNA the Kuwaiti news agency, The Kurdish news agency AK News did two reports in Arabic.the first under the headline Baghdad’s Christians are demanding the Iraqi government  protect them from targeting while the second dealt with Cardinal Delly’s demand for practical steps to be taken to protect Christians under the headline We will not accept our case being exploited for elections. While Al Jazeera English did a report headed Iraq’s Christians demand justice.

None of this of course is enough. The press will move on, and Irak’s Christians will continue to suffer sustained campaigns of ethnic cleansing almost unnoticed. The community is being ground out of existence, my colleagues in Mosul report that they and the Christian community expect the next phase of the ethnic cleansing campaign to re-focus on university students and on schools a fear borne out by this from the German Press Agency’s article Thousands of Iraqi Christians protest attacks in Mosul:

Already, some 1,500 Christian university students from Qaraqosh, roughly 30 kilometres to the east of Mosul, are being held at home because of fears their buses may be targeted, the head of Mosul University, Said al-Diwaji, told dpa.

Ah, yes, alas that sounds both very likely and painfully familiar:

Christian Students Bombed | Gorilla’s Guides | January 10, 2010:

An adhesive bomb was placed on a bus used for students at the University of Mosul. The bus is used to transport Christian students in Hamdania (40 kilometers east) to their lectures at the University. The blast wounded two students.

Mohammed Ibn Laith

February 28th is also the second anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul Archbishop Faraj P. Rahho, who was abducted on that date and subsequently murdered.

Many people who knew him well have told me stories about him it seems that he was a very good and brave man who deserves to be remembered for his faith and also for his commitment to dialogue between the religions. As a Muslim I honour his memory and deplore his death.

I have been asked to say that because of the march and Archbishop Rahho’s anniversary that no morning masses will be said in Mosul or in the villages were the marches are taking place. Instead the Christian priests will say mass in the afternoon.

Mohammed Ibn Laith

اكد ممثل المرجعية الدينية العليا في النجف الأشرف على ان بذل الاموال والهدايا والوعود لحمل الناخب على انتخاب قائمة معينة او مرشح معين، محرم شرعا. كما ان المال المأخوذ هو سحت او حرام. محذرا في الوقت نفسه من عدم المشاركة في الانتخابات المقبلة، لاجل قطع الطريق امام من يرفض الاسلوب الديمقراطي في انتقال السلطة وادارة شؤون البلاد وابعادها عن الانقلابات العسكرية.

وبين سماحة الشيخ (عبد المهدي الكربلائي) خلال خطبة صلاة الجمعة (11ربيع الاول1431 الموافق 26 شباط 2010) التي اقيمت في الصحن الحسيني الشريف " ان المرجعية الدينية لا تدعم اية قائمة مشاركة بالانتخابات وان اي كلام خلاف ذلك هو غير صحيح. وان سماحة المرجع الديني الاعلى آية الله العظمى السيد علي الحسيني السيستاني(دام ظله) قد حذر من عدم المشاركة، لان ذلك سيمنح الفرصة للآخرين ممن يرفضون الاسلوب الديمقراطي في انتقال السلطة وادارة شؤون البلاد ويتخذون من العنف والاساليب غير المشروعة وسيلة لتغيير الواقع والوصول الى الحكم وفرض نهجهم على الاخرين. وهذا سيؤدي الى دخول البلاد في دوامة من الفوضى وعدم الاستقرار بصورة دائمية ".

وقال سماحته " ومن اجل قطع الطريق امام هؤلاء، وحتى لايتمكنوا من اعادة العراق الى المربع الاول، فلابد من مشاركة الجميع في الانتخابات. وكل ذلك من اجل تأسيس وترسيخ الاسلوب الديمقراطي في تداول السلطة، وإبعاد شبح العنف والانقلابات العسكرية عن البلاد. اما اذا ماعزف المواطن عن المشاركة في الانتخابات، فسياتي يوم يندمون فيه اشد الندم على ذلك ولكن بعد فوات الاوان ".

وتابع الشيخ (الكربلائي) "ان المرجعية الدينية العليا، وانطلاقا من موقعها، وهو الرعاية الابوية للجميع، لاتتبنى او تدعم اية قائمة مشاركة في لانتخابات. وان اي كلام خلاف ذلك هو غير صحيح. ويرجى عدم الاستماع الى مايصدر من هنا وهناك من شائعات تذكر ان للمرجعية موقفا ظاهرا معلنا. ولكن لها موقف آخر باطن يخالف هذا الموقف و(ان المرجعية الدينية العليا اسمى واجلُّ من ان يكون لها موقف ظاهر معلن وموقف آخر مخالف له باطن. فالمرجعية لاتخشى احدا ولا تتقي من احد. فان كان لها موقف فهي تعلنه ولاتتردد ابدا من بيان اعلانه ).

وأشار سماحته الى " ان المرجعية الدينية العليا تشدد على ضرورة ان يختار الناخب القائمة الافضل والاكثر حرصا على مصالح العراق في حاضره ومستقبله واقدرها على تحقيق ما يطمح اليه شعبه الكريم من الاستقرار والتقدم. لذلك لايكفي اصل المشاركة، بل لابد من حسن الاختيار للقائمة وكذلك المرشح. فلا يكفي اختيار قائمة هي جيدة بنظر المواطن من دون ان يختار المرشح الجيد ايضا والتي تتوفر فيه صفات الكفاءة والامانة والالتزام بثوابت الشعب العراقي " .

ونبـّه ممثل المرجعية الدينية العليا الى " اختيار القائد الجيد والمرشح الجيد، حتى ولو كان تسلسله متأخرا في القائمة الانتخابية. كأن يكون عشرين او ثلاثين او غير ذلك. داعيا الى ان يتحرى الناخب جيدا عن المرشحين قبل الادلاء بصوته، ويختار الافضل منهم. وان بذل الاموال والهدايا والوعود لحمل الناخب على انتخاب قائمة معينة او مرشح معين، هو امر غير جائز شرعا ولا اخلاقا. وهو امر غير مقبول من الدين والاخلاق ومحرم شرعا. كما ان المال المأخوذ هو سحت او حرام اضافة الى ان جرَّ الناخب لانتخاب قائمة معينة او مرشح معين تتنافى مع كرامة الشعب العراقي والفرد العراقي لكون هذا الشعب شعبا ابيا ونزيها وله كرامة يرتفع بها عن قبول الاموال لشراء ذمته".

وفي ختام الخطبة نقل سماحة الشيخ (عبد المهدي الكربلائي) عبارة وردت من مكتب المرجعية الدينية العليا في النجف الاشرف، ونصها (ان صوتك ايها المواطن العراقي وصوتك ايتها المواطنة العراقية اغلى من الدنيا ومافيها فلا تبيعوا الشيء الغالي والنفيس بثمن بخس).

The reality is catastrophically worse. Hundreds of Christian families have fled their homes in the last two days in Mosul and it’s suburbs in terror for their lives.

If you are a Christian in Mosul today the overwhelming factor in your life is that to fear being hunted down and slaughtered without mercy is an entirely reasonable fear to have. The source of the "more than thirty" quote is Bashar Kiki who is the head of the village council for Tal Keef. However, if you read the report that my colleague Mohammed Al-Hamadani posted earlier today (Arabic language) it becomes very clear that Bashar Kiki¹ was speaking only of families whom he personally had met and to whom he personally offered help.

However when you count all the Christian families who have fled their homes in Mosul in the last few days and not just those who fled to Tal Keef as we have done and as Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, has done then the scale of the catastrophe engulfing Mosul’s Christians becomes clear.

Speaking from Mosul the Bishop spoke of a "humanitarian emergency" and revealed that in just one day, yesterday, "hundreds of Christian families" had fled the city taking what they could carry leaving their homes and livelihoods behind them. Those families are now destitute.

IRAQ Bishop of Mosul: humanitarian emergency. Hundreds of Christian families fleeing violence – Asia News:

The archbishop of Mosul is concerned about the many families, "hundreds" in one day yesterday, leaving the city. Bishop Nona speaks of an " unending via Crucis” and denounces the "change in methods" operated by the armed gangs. "In the past we said to the Christians to remain closed in the house – he remembers – but now they are even attacked in their own homes”. The reference is to the murder took place last February 23: commandos entered the house of Aishwa Marosi, a Christian of 59, killing the man and two boys. His wife and daughter witnessed the murder but were spared by the criminals.

Bishop Nona confirms the risk that "Mosul will be emptied completely of Christians”, who are fleeing towards the plain of Nineveh and other places considered safer. "Yesterday I visited some families – he continues – I have tried to bring comfort, but the situation is dramatic. The people fled without taking anything with them”. This is why the local archdiocese has launched an initial emergency response, trying to provide "essential supplies and relief", but the danger of "a humanitarian crisis is real."

The archbishop of Mosul plans to travel to Baghdad to meet with politicians and the central government, to demand their intervention. It is difficult to maintain the Christian presence, he continues, and it is likely that the general elections – scheduled for March 7 – no one will vote. The confining of Iraq’s Christians in the Nineveh Plain, victims of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds, seems an increasingly concrete likelihood, although the Church leaders have always been opposed to this "ghettoisation". So far, the warring factions have used the excuse of religion and armed gangs to drag the Christians into the conflict. "For this – concluded Mgr. Nona – we now need to find a ‘political response’ to the conflicts, the struggle for power.”

Among those hundreds of Christian families who fled their homes yesterday were the families of two Gorilla’s Guides team members. More Christians have fled Mosul this morning. Among those who fled this morning were a further two families of Gorilla’s Guides Christian team members in Mosul.

When I wrote "Nearly One Million Christians – Most Of Them Now On The Run" nearly two years ago, we had twenty five Christian team members and associates together with their families living in Mosul and it’s suburbs. Today February 25th 2010 we have one Christian team member left living in the city. He lives alone having sent his family to stay in the home of another team member far from Mosul for their safety.

The savage murder of the 59 year old Assyrian Christian Aishwa Maroki by a gang of gunmen who smashed down his front door to get at him and then slaughtered him and and his two sons Bassim and Mokhlas in front of his terrified wife and daughter has terrorised many of Mosul’s Christians beyond endurance. As my colleague has reported in the immediately preceding posting (see نزوح اسر مسيحية من مدينة الموصل جراء العنف | Gorilla’s Guides ) The leader of Tal Keef district council, Bashar Kiki, has said that he personally has offered assistance to thirty Christian refugee families and that he expects more Christian refugees to arrive in the next few days.

Mosul’s Christians are the victims of the complete breakdowns in law and order that have taken place repeatedly in Mosul since the American invasion of Irak. They are the victims of several concentrated campaigns of terror against them. There is the campaign by Takfiri extremists and there are the competing campaigns of Arab and Kurdish nationalists. Wherever my Christian brothers and sisters in humanity look in the city that is their home Mosul’s Christians see only threats and predators. The security forces, the Peshmerga now flooding the city, and the American forces who patrol with the Peshmerga do nothing to protect the Christians. Nor do they do anything to protect the other minorities such as the Shabaki and the Yazhidi.

We have many eyewitness reports from witnesses whom we know to be credible of Peshmerga and their American allies standing by and doing nothing while Christians are attacked in front of their eyes. We have reports from people whose testimony we know to be credible of Christians being "fingered" by the new "security" forces flooding Mosul and then being attacked. We are not the only people with thick dossiers of such reports. Every human rights organisation with a presence in the governorate has such a dossier.

The parallels with the death squad murder campaigns of recent years in which the death squads consisting of  "men dressed in police uniform" and "men dressed in army uniform" turned out to be police and soldiers are too clear and too appalling to be missed. As with those campaigns the aim is explicitly political — to remove a political obstacle by forcing an entire community to flee in terror from their homes

When Mosul’s Christians say that they are surrounded by threats and predators in the city that is their home and that among worst predators are those whose duty it is to protect them they are telling the truth.

Like Bashar Kikim, and Bishops Sako and Nona  we in Gorilla’s Guides know that we can expect more Christians to flee in terror as the terror campaigns against them escalate. We expect increased violence against them and the other minority groups, such as Turkmen, Fayli, Shabaki, and Yazhidi in the run up to the election. We expect the violence levels to escalate against them still further as the issues of Kirkuk and the so-called "disputed areas" come once more to forefront of the political arena. This is the second time in recent years that I have burnt with rage and shame that we cannot do more to protect our Christian brothers and sisters. I believe that it is now very doubtful that there will be any surviving Christians in Irak in a few years time.

Mohammed Ibn Laith

Notes and references: 

1. I have met and dealt with Bashar Kiki on occasion as have many other team members and we know him to be a truthful, honourable, upright, and compassionate man.
2. For a background briefing on Iraki Christians see: Nearly One Million Christians – Most Of Them Now On The Run | Gorilla’s Guides I wrote it on March 23, 2008 in it I deal with Iraki Christian history and discuss the legal (Shariah) situation as regards their rights to live and worship in peace and freedom.
3. However the Takfiri campaign against Iraki Christians in general and Mosuli Christians in particular is only one of several campaigns against them. Most of the attacks on them are ethnic cleansing from one group or another. Some of the best coverage is from the Vatican run Asia News who are unafraid of using their excellent local contacts and contacts with local organisations to get at the truth.
   
   • The homepage for Asia News’ English language service is at this link.

   This report explains clearly the basic problem  IRAQ Mosul: targeted execution of Christians continues in media and government silence – Asia News the last part of which I extract immediately below:

   Local witnesses reported that "the murder took place in front of the security forces, who saw all the phases of the attack, but did not intervene." A Catholic in Mosul says that "the tactic is to murder Christians, because the media does not talk about it." A strategy that aims to push Christians towards the plain of Nineveh, "in the silence and indifference of the government and the international community."

   A source for AsiaNews in Mosul, adds that "Christians are living in panic and have begun fleeing from the city". He explains that "these are not normal criminals," but behind them are "specific political plans" that the government is not countering. There is no information from Baghdad "about who is behind attacks on churches and Christians," but the source is confident that the central executive, the governorship of Mosul and the Kurdish leadership "are aware" of the plan against the Christian community.

   "It is easier to attribute responsibility to Al Qaeda – concludes the source – and the fundamentalist fringe. In reality, Christians are victims of a power struggle between Arabs and Kurds".

4. My colleague Ali who has excellent contacts in Mosul and trained our coordinator there made a simlar point om May 13, 2009:

   Suffer The Little Children | Gorilla’s Guides:
   

   There’s a reason why our Christian fellow citizens are fleeing Irak and not coming back. The tragedy of Tony Edward Shiol’s murder illustrates it perfectly — Christians are targets. Sometimes they are targeted as a matter of ethnic cleansing, sometimes because of warped and fanatical religiosity, and sometimes because they are often seen as being a relatively wealthy and relatively powerless minority.

   Irak’s Christians have been through hell, Irak’s Christians continue to endure hell – the figures speak for themselves. As best I can determine the Christian population stood at 1.2 million in 1991, 800,000 in 2003 and is less than 400,000 today. When I talk to the few of my Christian friends who remain in Irak, they are divided. Some dream of a return to old days of an Irak that treats its Christian minority well and cherishes their presence. An Irak in other words that behaves like Syria and Jordan. There are many who have given up and are fleeing to Europe, to America, or to wherever will take them, finally there are some who want their own semi-autonomous region in the Plain of Ninawa.

   This last option the “Ninawa plains project” is fatally flawed. Its flaw is that the Kurds are determined to incorporate the Ninawa plains into what is rapidly evolving from an autonomous region to a de facto state while the governorate authorities and the government in Baghdad are equally determined to prevent the Kurdish land grab. The result is that Christians, especially Christian families with children, are vulnerable to intimidation and coercion from all sides. No wonder they flee.

5. Further coverage can be found here:
   • Pope’s Pain at Christian Killings in Iraq (Vatican Radio)
   • During Lenten retreat, Pope prays for Iraqi Christians and peace in the country (AsiaNews)