"La situazione sta peggiorando. Gridate con noi che i diritti umani sono calpestati da persone che parlano in nome di Dio ma che non sanno nulla di Lui che è Amore, mentre loro agiscono spinti dal rancore e dall'odio.
Gridate: Oh! Signore, abbi misericordia dell'Uomo."

Mons. Shleimun Warduni
Baghdad, 19 luglio 2014

5 aprile 2008

Syro Ortodox priest killed in Baghdad. "I hope to be wrong" "We hope too"

By Baghdadhope

It was 12.00 of this morning, Rome time, when the piece of news arrived about the killing of another priest in Iraq but only now I am able to report it.

Yousef Adel, the syro ortodox priest of the church of Mar Boutrous, in the district of Zayouna, in the centre of Baghdad, was killed in front of his house and his wife and children. Killed by unknown men who shot him using a silence handgun. According to the first rumours spread in Baghdad and confirmed during the day by different sources he could have been killed by who opposed his being teacher in a mixed school were male and female students, Christians and Muslims, study.
But according to what a source of the chaldean church who doesn't want his name to be revealed told to Baghdadhope there could another reason for this murder. "Maybe" the source said, "this people killed Fr. Yousef to hit someone else. I mean that there will be a funeral ceremony and maybe representatives of different churches will be present and it will be a very, very, dangerous time."
"Why using a silence handgun to kill him?"
"If this piece of news is confirmed this also could be a sign. Silence handguns are not usual in Baghdad , and useless of course. But if they used, for example, a booby-trapped car, it could be said that it was only a case for him to be killed in the explosion. It cannot be said in this case. Furthermore it was not a kidnapping attempt. Really I hope to be wrong and that nothing will happen during the funeral ceremony."
"Will it be held tomorrow?"
"Nothing is confirmed by now, many main roads in Baghdad are closed, tomorrow is Sunday and many priests will not be able to leave their communities. "
This is all is known by now. In the next days all the media will cover the news and all particolars will be given. We only have to hope that really the church source is wrong. And that the funeral ceremony will be only what it should be: a time of mourning and not a trap.