Source: SIR
12:45 - IRAQ: MGR. NONA (MOSUL), “CHRISTIANS PANICKING AND FLEEING AWAY”. AN APPEAL TO THE EU
Yesterday’s cold-blooded murder of three Christians in their home in Mosul has thrown the local Christian community “into panic” and many families are thinking of leaving the city, at least until the election of March 7th has taken place. This was reported to SIR by the Chaldean bishop of Mosul, mgr. Emil Shimoun Nona, at the end of the funeral service for the three victims that was celebrated this morning in Karakosh. “Fear is great – explains the prelate –, it is the first time Christians are killed in their own homes. There are many families that are leaving the city, at least until the election of March 7th. A letter we sent along with the Syro-Catholic bishop, mgr. Georges Casmoussa, to the Governor of the city, asking for protection, was useless”.
“Right now – goes on mgr. Nona –, we must not lose hope. Life is a primary good and must be preserved. But living under threat all the time, in the fear of being killed, is no life. Right now, I invite Christians to go somewhere safe, it doesn’t matter if in town or somewhere else. We are living, as Iraqi Christians, in a desert that has been going on since 2004 by now, when violence broke out against us and has been growing over the last two years. They are killing Christians all the time, and now they are even breaking into our homes. It’s hard to say who the actual perpetrators of such violence are, and the reasons why they do that, even if it is politics, rather than religion, that should be blamed for that. We only hope that this dramatic time will end soon and our country will go back to normal. On my part – he adds – I do not fear so much for my life as for the life of my devotees who live in such an extremely hard situation and who cannot work, study or go out for fear of being killed”. “I ask the international community and Europe – concludes mgr. Nona – to pressurise our government that cannot keep the situation under control. We must act now, violence is increasing day after day”.
11:39 - IRAQ: CHRISTIANS KILLED IN MOSUL, MGR. CASMOUSSA “THE POPE HAS BEEN INFORMED”
A peaceful march and no Masses in the city’s churches. This is what is being organised by the Christian community of Mosul for next Sunday, in response to yesterday’s cold-blooded murder of three Christians in their home, in the neighbourhood of Hay Al Saha, in Mosul. In addition, the victims were the father and the two brothers of a Syro-Catholic priest, father Mazen Ishoa, who in October 2007 had also been abducted and eventually released. This was announced to SIR by the Syro-Catholic bishop of the city, mgr. Georges Casmoussa. “The community will meet for a peaceful march in four areas of Mosul for a peaceful protest. There will be no Masses in the city’s churches. This is done to press the institutions into taking care of the citizens’ security. I am aware the apostolic nuncio to Iraq is in close contact with the Holy See and the Pontiff is directly informed of the developments of this situation. A situation that risks getting worse – concludes mgr. Casmoussa – in the run-up to March 7th. We hope that the after-election period may be calmer and violence may decrease. But that’s not very likely for the moment”.
11:14 : CHRISTIANS KILLED IN MOSUL, MGR. CASMOUSSA “THE PROMISED SECURITY MEASURES HAVE FAILED”
The funeral of the three Christians who were cold-bloodedly killed yesterday in their home, in the neighbourhood of Hay Al Saha, in Mosul, by some men, took place this morning in the Syro-Catholic church of Mar Benham and Sara, in Karakosh. The funeral service was celebrated, in the presence of “some bishops, many priests from the Iraqi dioceses and lots and lots of devotees”, by the Syro-Catholic bishop of Mosul, mgr. Georges Casmoussa, who, at the end of the rite, made this statement to SIR: “for the very first time, the murderers entered the Christians’ homes to kill them. This is a very dangerous precedent for our community. This base deed means the failure of all the measures they had promised they would take for our security. We are aware that every Christian cannot be watched over all the time by a military man, but this is the failure of the situation. In this respect, we have repeated again our requests for safety to the local and central institutions with which we are in contact. We are waiting for them to send adequate security forces to surround the area and try to arrest the murderers. In the next few hours, a delegation of the Prime Minister will be in Mosul to discuss the situation”.