Source: MISNA
Negotiations are underway for the liberation of Father Pius Afas and Fr. Mazen Ishoa, the two priests kidnapped on Saturday in Mosul, in northern Iraq. MISNA sources in Mosul expressed optimism on the possibility that the priests may be freed soon, “maybe even today”. Fr. Afas and Fr. Ishoa were ambushed by an unspecified number of gunmen on Saturday afternoon at around 4:00p.m in the neighbourhood of Al-Thawra on their way to the Fatima Church for a funeral celebration. “We cannot say more for the risk of compromising the negotiations, but we are hopeful”, referred the MISNA sources. Fr. Afas, 60, directed a Catholic magazine and Fr. Ishoa was ordained priest a short while ago. According to some sources, the kidnappers are common criminals and have demanded a ransom. Pope Benedict XVI yesterday in his Sunday Angelus, joining all those who have the good of the country and of the region at heart, made an appeal to the kidnappers: “I call on the abductors to rapidly liberate the two clerics and I reiterate that violence does not resolve the tensions”. “As far as I know the two priests, Father Pius Afas and Fr. Mazen Ishoa, are still in the hands of their kidnappers”, said Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, head of the Syrian Catholic Church in Mosul, contacted by MISNA in the northern Iraqi city. The Archbishop’s words in fact deny a report this morning by the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) of the release yesterday of the priests. “The news is untrue, the last contact with the kidnappers was last night when they phoned to demand a $1-million ransom. A sum that is not within our possibilities”, added to MISNA the Archbishop from Mosul. “This morning we tried to call the kidnappers back many times, but so far without response. We are however hopeful and pray for the prompt release of our fathers”, concluded Archbishop Casmoussa. MISNA sources this morning had expressed optimism on the release of the priests, “maybe even today”.