Christians and the impending crisis in Mosul

Christians and the impending crisis in Mosul
BarnabasAid, 20 Oct 2016


The situation in Iraq is now reaching crisis point as the Iraqi army, together with a loose coalition of forces, close in on Islamic State’s stronghold in the city of Mosul.
Barnabas Aid has in the last 24 hours spoken with one of the archbishops of Mosul. He stated that Christians who fled two years ago from the villages near Mosul, which have been liberated from Islamic State (IS) in the last few days, are unsure whether to return to their homes.   Their greatest concerns are the safety and security issues, but it is likely to be a month before the situation becomes clearer. The archbishop has specifically asked Barnabas Aid supporters to pray for these Christians to know God’s will.
As far as the situation in Mosul itself is concerned, he questions whether Christians will ever be allowed back in the city for reasons which we explain more fully in our editorial.
Those now fleeing the city of Mosul ahead of the impending battle are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims, as the Christians of Mosul were forced to leave in 2014 when IS took over. Although IS initially appeared willing to allow Christians in Mosul to have dhimmi status, shortly afterwards they gave them the choice of immediately converting to Islam, leaving or being executed. As a report by a coalition of well-respected human rights organisations stated: “After assuming control of Mosul, ISIS published a charter demanding that Christians pay a ‘jizya’ (a tax paid by non-Muslims) and imposing harsh punishments, such as public crucifixions. On 17 July, ISIS militants began to paint Christian homes with the Arabic letter ‘Nun’ (signifying Nasrani, a word used to refer to Christians) and with ‘property of the Islamic State’. On 18 July 2014, ISIS members announced in all of Mosul’s mosques that the Christian population had until noon of 19 July 2014 to leave the city or face execution.”
(Institute for International Law and Human Rights, Minority Rights Group International, No Peace without Justice and Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization Between the Millstones: The State of Iraq’s Minorities Since the Fall of Mosul (February 2015).

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