The Pilot
July 23 2014
Expulsion of Christians a ‘crime against humanity,’ Mosul bishop says
On: 7/23/2014, By Carol Glatz , In: World
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Backed up by death threats and property
seizures, the expulsion of the entire Christian community from Mosul
is “a crime against humanity,” said an archbishop from Mosul.
Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona said the Islamic State, which
took control of Iraq’s second-largest city in early June, is carrying
out “religious cleansing.”
“It’s an ugly word, but it is what happened and is happening,” he told
Vatican Radio July 22.
Iraq’s Christian leaders are tired of people making appeals and
declarations about their plight without backing up their words with
real action, the archbishop said.
“Words do nothing today,” he said.
Support and prayers are needed, he said, but “we also expect all
Christians to show solidarity with concrete action” and “without being
afraid to talk about this tragedy.”
Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad said: “We need
action first. The world is not bothering with what is happening to
Christians in Mosul.”
The world’s leaders, including those of the United States, must live
up to stated commitment to promoting what is good, he told Catholic
News Service by telephone July 23.
“They must do something, because they can,” he said.
The international community must help those being displaced, not
because they are Christians, but because they are human beings, he
said. Because it overthrew Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the United
States in particular must be asked: “Where are the human rights? Where
is the democracy?” he said.
Bishop Warduni called for a complete end to selling weapons to Islamic
State fighters.
“There are no words to describe them,” he said. “They have no
conscience, no religion. Even though they talk about God, they don’t
know God,” he said of the militant group that has declared a caliphate
— a state governed by a religious leader.
The militants forced thousands of Christians from their homes, seizing
their property and then robbed them of their belongings at checkpoints
as they fled the city.
Bishop Warduni said, “They take everything, even a wedding ring from a
widow, medicine from the hands of a small child, they just (pour) it
on the ground.”
The militants confiscated the cars people were fleeing in, he said,
forcing the occupants, including “small children, old people, sick
people, to walk on foot in 48-degree (118 Fahrenheit) heat.”
Bishop Warduni was one of a number of Iraqi Christian bishops who
gathered in Ankawa, a northern town near Irbil, July 21-22 to talk
about the crisis unfolding in Mosul with representatives from the
United Nations, UNICEF, Caritas and local government leaders.
At the end of the two-day meeting, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael
Sako and bishops from the Chaldean, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic
and Armenian churches called on the Iraqi government to “stop the
catastrophe” and guarantee the “necessary protection” needed for
Christians and other minorities being targeted by the fighters.
“A crime is a crime, and it cannot be denied or justified. We expect
concrete actions to assure our people, not just press releases of
denunciation and condemnation,” the statement said.
The bishops also called on the Iraqi government to provide basic
services, housing, schools, aid and financial support to those who
have been forced from their homes and livelihoods. They thanked the
regional Kurdish government for its hospitality and willingness to
protect fleeing families.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, representing 57
Muslim countries, condemned the forced displacements in Mosul and
called the action “a crime that cannot be tolerated.”
“The practices of the Islamic State have nothing to do with Islam and
its principles that call for justice, fairness, freedom of faith and
coexistence,” the organization said in a press release July 21.
According to a recent report by the Christian Aid Program, CAPNI, all
churches and monasteries in Mosul, numbering around 30 structures,
were confiscated and are under the Islamic State’s control.
Crosses were removed from Christian places of worship, which, in many
cases, were then looted, burned, destroyed or occupied by the militant
group.
Shiite mosques also were demolished and all Sunni, Shiite and
Christian tombs in the city were destroyed, too, the report said.
Such destruction was endangering many of the nation’s ancient
historical, cultural and religious sites, including the tomb of Jonah,
which reportedly was broken into in mid-July, the report said.
All non-Sunni communities living in Mosul were being targeted, it
said, including Shiite Muslims.
Those who escaped Mosul and found shelter in surrounding villages were
still facing hardship, it said, as the Islamic State cut off electric
and water supplies to neighboring villages.
There is no drinking water in some areas and the Islamic State was
preventing medicine and other hospital supplies from getting past the
areas it controls.
The fighters also closed the city’s banks, CAPNI reported, so many
people who want to leave Mosul were delaying their departure because
they couldn’t access their own bank accounts and they couldn’t find
buyers for their homes given the “frozen” housing market, it said.
Most city services have “totally collapsed” and the private sector is
“almost paralyzed,” it said.