The Persecution of Christians in Iraq

Recently, the Christians were given an ultimatum to convert to Islam, leave Iraq and Syria region or die. This is through the perpetuation of the Islamic States in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group that has taken hold of the Mosul region in northern Iraq. Due to this extermination and threats made to the Christians, some have since fled for safety while others had to compromise a change to Islam to save their lives. These are some of the contemporary struggles that Christianity faces in the Iraq region. However, Christianity in Iraq stems back to the 1st century by the rise of the Assyrian people. Assyria was the center of eastern rite Christianity alongside the Syria literature from then until in the 4th century when the Assyrians living in the Mesopotamian religion began to relinquish. Persecutions of the Christians in the Iraq region are based on the cultural, racial and ethnicity differences through which this study aims at demystifying. 

Christian Statistics in Iraq 

Christianity is one of the oldest religions in Iraq through past integration of the Assyrians, Armenians, and Kurdish populations. In the present day, Christians in Iraq are separatists with a unique origin and history. In the year 2003, Christianity accounted for 6% population of Iraq 26 million people which indicate a lower percentage of the recently conducted census of the Iraq people in the year 1987 ( Kirmanc, 2013 ). Then, Christians registered a population of 1.4 million representing 8.5% of the 16.5 Iraq citizens. Nevertheless, due to ethnic and religious conflicts, Christians have undergone torture and torments since 2003 leading to their displacement and freeing to neighboring nations. Therefore, the number of Christians has since lowered to approximately 450,000, but historians indicate that the number could be significantly higher if the census were conducted in Iraq. 

The History of Christian's Persecutions in Iraq 

The maltreatment and discrimination of the Christianity race in Iraq emanate from the 13th century. Most Christians of the time spoke Aramaic which was viewed as the language of Christ. Still, some Christians in Iraq speak Aramaic in the present day. While northern Iraq was a Christian region and occupied by the Assyrians, this was disrupted by the end of the 14th century when Timur, a Muslim warlord beheaded 70,000 Christian Assyrians in Tikrit. Moreover, he ordered the killing of 90,000 more Christians in the Baghdad. Also, in the era of the World War I, more Assyrians suffered brutal extermination that accounted for the loss of 65% Assyrian population ( Abdullah, 2014 ). Among this population, northern Iraq, northeast Syria and northwest Iran represented quite a fortune for the Christians denomination. The ordeal rose to what was known as the Assyrian genocide. 

In the year 1933, the kingdom of Iraq led an Assyrian massacre spree with contentions that they supported the British colonial administration. This massacre was known as the simele massacre. Apart from the simele massacre, the Iraq armed forces killed Assyrians in 63 villages among Dohuk and Mosul regions ( Abdullah, 2014 ). This was after the Iraqi Arabs had lured the Kurds to join them in denouncing the Assyrian Christians. Houses were looted in this affliction as well atrocities articulated towards the Assyrian women. 

Additionally, though Christians were tolerated under the reign of Saddam Hussein, he still held biased discrepancies about the existence of the religion. Ironically, Hussein had Tariq Aziz, a Christian deputy his presidency. This did not stop discrimination on religious grounds. In the year 1987, there were major subdual and overpowering towards the Iraqi Christians of the time. Among the changes were the restrictions on naming persons in the Syriac Christianity way and the neo-Aramaic language stifled ( Buc, 2015 ). Also, the religious differences among the Christians denominations of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the east, and the ancient church of the east were used to destabilize the Christians at large. The Iraqi Society used these differences to embattle the Christian faith and harmony and in disguise killed more Christians from these denominations. In the al Anfal campaign of the year 1988, among the killing of the Kurds, over 2000 Christians suffered the wrath of death and persecution ( Gunter, 2015 ). Also, the Baathist movement under the stewardship of Saddam Hussein developed relocation schedules for the Christians. The Assyrians who had the predominant Arabian language knowhow identified themselves as Arabs in fear of relocation or killings for lack of cooperation. Under the Baathist regime, the Christians suffered cold treatment in the guise of protection from the government. Statistics indicate that the Christian population had lessened from 1.5 million to 800,000 Christians due to the enraging discrepancies projected against the said religion. It is in these contentions that the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland combined their army troops in a conquest to liberate the people of Iraq. The mission was known as "Operation Iraqi Freedom" but historically noted as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion was projected toward decimating the Baathist movement under the control of Saddam Hussein 

Post-War Christian Persecutions 

Ironically, after the 2003 invasion of Iraqi, the Christians ordeal became worse. Earlier, the war had displaced persons to the neighboring countries while other remained internally displaced. According to United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) 2007 report, nearly 4.2 million Iraqis were displaced both externally and internally. Among the countries of refuge were Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey ( Steine , Gibney & Loescher , 2013). The aftermath of the war accelerated the repulsion of the Muslim community against the Christians. As an act of revenge, Christians were subjected to exploitations. Violence rose, and cases of abduction surfaced. Also, there were bombings and torture of the Christians established regions and the Christians respectively. Specifically, the church explosions in Baghdad killed 15 people, and 71 other Christians were left injured and in devastating conditions. In other scenarios, Christians were forced to convert to Muslims failure to which they would be accorded death penalties. Many Christians acted out of pressure and torture and those who could not subdue the persecutions readily affirmed to the Muslim orders. Furthermore, women were instructed to wear Islamic dresses. 

In the year 2006, the population of Christians had reduced significantly because most had fled from Baghdad. Following an exodus to various neighboring countries, the Iraqi Christians abandoned their convents, churches, and seminaries. The parish priests and moderators who were left behind faced different repercussions from the unwavering Islamic torturer. Among the victims was Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni who was killed in the Mosul city (Abdullah, 2014). Together with Ganni, were his three deacons who also rejected the orders to convert to Muslim when they were confronted on transit. They were also killed for failing to comply with their instructions. This was a tragic loss for the Chaldean church to lose a pastoral leader who held the church together. Among the Christian perceptions, church leaders are pivotal for their worshipping areas. 

Moreover, the Muslim extremists targeted at eradicating the Christianity leaders to make a major effect on the religion. Paulo Faraj Rahho, the Mosul archbishop, was killed and buried in Mosul ( Gunter, 2015 ). The incidence was devastating for the Christian community as Rahho is said to have been the Christian of the highest ranking that was killed in Iraq's era of extremism. This followed after a kidnapping instance that left his driver and bodyguard killed. Consequentially, there were wayward attacks on Christians who lived in the Mosul city of Iraq. These Mosul attacks led to the displacement of Christians and the consequential pursuit of refuge at the Assyrian villages of Nineveh and the Kurdistan regions that partly appreciated Christianity. Again, the killing of Rahho was a great loss for the Christianity community at large. Being an archbishop for the region, he symbolized the continuity of the church under the present situations. 

In 2006, 16 women of the of the Syrian Christianity denomination were murdered. This was after they were kidnapped and held hostage. Moreover, the UNHCR report indicates that there were 27 churches demolished by bombing between the end of 2004 and December 2006 ( Griswold, 2015 ). Usually, Christians were held hostage to negotiate a ransom. However, most of the victims were killed for lack of the ransom or utter falsification of release. Intuitively, whether the anti-Christians kidnappers settled for payment or not, the chances of freedom were not guaranteed. This explains the heights of inhumanity expressed to the Christian families entirely 

On the same year of 2008, there were attacks on the Christian families which led to more deaths. Specifically, October attacks were projected to families on instruction to choose death or conversion to Islam. A UNHCR report indicates that 14 Christians were killed in this strife and 13,000 more relocated to the Nineveh plains ( Steine , Gibney & Loescher , 2013). Despite this tragedy, the subsequent month of November was embattled by several killings as well. Seven bodies were found lying in the streets of Mosul ( Griswold, 2015 ). After their scrutiny, they were found to belong to Christian worshippers. In the same instance, two nuns were killed and one ruthlessly injured for providing a house to refuge the displaced Christians of the Mosul city. As a result, more than 500 families fled from the city as the situation was getting worse to find shelter at churches and the neighboring villages. Moreover, there were attacks in 2009 which led to the deaths of 15 Christians from the Mosul region. 

The Rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) 

Within the insurgencies and uncertainties of the Iraqi nation, there arose an insurgent group known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). ISI stemmed from a prior group led by a Jordanian citizen known as Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi had owed allegiance to the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ( Celso, 2015 ). ISIL has after that dominated the Iraqi state with their terrorist driven motives. In 2010, the Islamic State of Iraq suicide Jihadist stormed a church in Baghdad. It was a Syrian Catholic where Christians had gathered for evening worship. The suicide Jihadis killed 58 worshippers and the priests. The policemen and the bystanders were murdered too. Those who sustained injuries amounted to 78 fatalities ( Celso, 2015 ). Terrorist group organizations emerged with the fallacies of protecting their members from the government extortion. Instead, they were racial extremists who executed actions based on the ethnicities differences. The terrorist organization is perceived as the most recurrent danger of the minority groups in the Iraq regime. Since the United Nations provisions on human rights imply that a man shall be treated with the utmost respect and dignity, human beings have a right to worship and live without any subjection to danger or extortion. 

ISI later transformed to Islamic State of Iraqi and the Levant. Also, the terrorist group was known as the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The group is staunchly connected to the fundamentalist Islamic religion which has since held the government of Iraq captives. Specifically, in the year 2014, ISIL overpowered the governmental armed forces out of the key cities of the western Iraq offensive. The global eminence was later escalated when ISIL captured the city of Mosul ( Celso, 2015 ). The United Nations terms ISIS as one among the notorious perpetrators of the human injustices. The terrorist organization is responsible for numerous killings of the Christianity followers in attempts to seek ransom or leverage. Among other atrocities, the ISIS group release evident videos of beheadings and executions of enemy soldiers and civilians. Moreover, they have terminated life through ruthless killings and bombings to date. 

Following the takeover of northern Iraq in 2014, ISIL instructed Christians in Mosul to pay taxes or convert to Islam or face killing (Masters & Laub, 2014). This was the extortion of the Christianity liberty. Just after the control of general Christian critics, the ISIL had now taken over. A controlled power ran the businesses of the Mosul city. Additionally, the ISIL leader of the time Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi instructed that any Christian who does not affirm or respond to the placed sanctions should leave the caliphate of the Islam. He added a due dateline to abide by those instructions. 

Following the ISIL provisions, Christianity was on the verge of extinction in the city of Mosul. Christians had to face a situation they did not anticipate in 1800 years. The home of several Christian generations soon became a home for none. Christians fled in a complete Assyrian exodus which marked the end of the continually thriving Christianity. The exodus exposed the Christian owned properties for the ISIL. The Christian homes were marked with nassarah to mean a Christian (Masters & Laub, 2014). Later, Christian property was seized, and the public worship places were demolished. ISIL catalyzed the tribulations the Christians had surmounted through a well-organized dictatorial regime. Mar Behnam monastery is amid the Christian sanctuaries that were ruined. 

Furthermore, the ISIL terrorist organization spread to other parts that were covered by the Assyrian communities. Qaraqosh, Tel keppe, Karamish, and Bartella were among the primary towns that the Assyrians had settled at (Masters & Laub, 2014). Being the establishments of the Christians, they had established home foundations for the younger generations. To this end, these actions prompted the Assyrians to flee from their settlements thus destabilizing their cultural setups. In addition, it offset how the families interrelated and coexisted around their daily chores. ISIL went ahead and conquered Qaraqosh and the neighboring towns forcing the Assyrian families to flee to Nineveh plains province. 

In the Nineveh plains, the ISIL would later find their way in to prosecute them more. The intentions were to recruit the weak Christians to join their movements. Ishmael, who had fled to Nineveh with her mother, narrated how after the invasion of the jihadists in the Nineveh region they decide to escape for a better hideout, but as soon as they tried to sneak out of the ISIL guarded territories the following morning, they were captured and taken back to Mosul. There, the jihadists' recruiters forced them to convert into Muslim or face death as an alternative. Ishmael said that they professed Islam and denounced Christianity for fear of death. Later, he illustrated that he was forced to learn the Islam worship for preparation to join the combat team. Also, his mother had to undergo forced prayer session even after she revealed she had inadequate Islam knowledge. This phenomenon illustrates how Iraqi Christians are deprived of the freedom to make decisions. Despite the orders and the Christian acceptance to leave Mosul, the terrorist organization still interfered with their stay at Nineveh. Furthermore, the forced conversion of spirituality is an indication of dictatorial social regimes which predetermine a pathway for the suppressed to follow without regard for their spiritual orientation. 

Moreover, ISIL degraded humanity by providing a price list for the female Christians in November 2014. The list indicated prices of female Christians with the Yazidi. Yazidi is a minor religious regime for the Kurdish. In a report by the UN official, Zainab Sangura stated that the slave trade was real and that the women were exchanged for sex as petrol barrels ("This Islamic State 'Price List' For Females Is Genuine, Says The UN," 2018). She later added that the trade was executed by the Islam State (IS). Sexual violence is an act of disrespecting the human form. Christian persecutions are so intense in the Iraq state such that human beings reflect any goodies and services. Even worse, the online price list indicates the highest prices for one-year-old females. After the terrorists sexually violate the Yazidi and Christian females, they ask for ransom in return to set them free. This indicates double extortion. Thus, Christians suffer in the Iraqi nation. 

In a report, persecuted and forgotten, they indicate that the Christianity regime of the Iraq nation will diminish at the end of 2020 (Amenn, 2018). The report follows the global concern that there is no one to hear their plight. Christians in the Iraqi nation are reduced to refugees in the same jurisdiction they were born. This is an indication of domestic persecution. The act is equivalent to abuse of a person at their domestic home. Amenn wonders what the remedy of a fast diminishing regime of the Christianity dominion is as the global attempts to end ISIL never materialize. She wonders if these are last years to have the Christians in the Nineveh plain province of Iraq. 

However, in August 2017, the Iraq armed force drove out the last ISIS militia from their stronghold in the North West city of tar afar. This was a mark to free the IS positioning in Nineveh which followed confirmation by the Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He stated that they had conducted a 10-day ground check with the help of the United States forces. However, the United Nations indicate that a part of about 30,000 inhabitants of Tar far had fled due to the agonizing fights ( Grim & Finke , 2010). Also, human rights groups are concerned with the execution of Iraq and the United States army tactics that had seen several residents injured and displaced in the Mosul campaign. However, the Nineveh plains are now occupied by the Christians refugees, and the Kurdistan Regional Government assumed control of the activities therein. The prime minister of Iraq states that decentralizing the government will facilitate the security progress among the small segments of the region and the Iraqi nation at large. 

Consequentially, Iraqi nation Christians have since moved to Nineveh province to settle there. Parts of these settlers are the Yazidi as well. The efforts of the Iraqi government to avail security for the religious minorities in the Nineveh area indicate that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) takes control of the activities of the Nineveh land ( Gunter, 2015 ). This emerges from the Peshmerga's announcement that they will not withdraw from the plains even after the liberation of the Mosul. These expressions indicate that the KRG will ultimately steer the prosperity and stability of the minorities in the plain. However, Christians complain that the KRGs facilitate unlawful land seizure and harassments. However, the Christians and the Yazidi appreciate the efforts of the KRG in their efforts to stabilize the region. 

Conclusion 

Ultimately, Iraq nation is among the few countries that had their Christian ancestors emerge from the first century. However, Christianity in Iraq has experienced unending tribulations throughout. As a result, the statistics of the Christians has revealed a diminishing trend by representing 6% of the Iraq population. The study illustrates that the emergence of the Christians denomination is attributed to the Assyrians who spoke the Aramaic. Christian persecutions projects formed the 13th century and the end of the 14th century when the Assyrian peace was disrupted. Specifically, Timur, a Muslim warlord ordered the killing of Muslims in the regions of Tikrit and Baghdad. Continually, Christianity is inhibited through the different regimes Iraq has been through. Apart from the historical persecutions, Christians had to withstand the atrocities that escalated after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This led to post-war oppressions which facilitated the death of many Christians. Among them were their priests and a high ranking archbishop. Moreover, the emergence of the Islamic state terrorist organization complemented the tribulations of the Iraqi nation at large. As indicated, the ISIL group has since perpetrated the oppression of the Christians in the Mosul city as well as the Assyrian Christians of the Qaraqosh and the neighboring towns. This led to the displacement of most Assyrian Christians to the Kurdistan –governed regions. Also, other Christians have since fled to Iraq neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon, and turkey. ISIS was exterminated from their last stronghold in Nineveh plains, Tar far, but the experience that the minority races have undergone is tormenting. Concretely, Iraqi's Christianity has lived through the struggle, and we can only hope the spirit cultivated by their earliest ancestors will live to thrive through the future generations. 

References 

Abdullah, T. (2014). A short history of Iraq . Routledge. 

Amenn, D. (2018). Persecuted and Forgotten? 2015-2017 - Aid to the Church in Need . Aid to the Church in Need . Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.churchinneed.org/persecution/ 

Buc, P. (2015). Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror: Christianity, Violence, and the West . University of Pennsylvania Press. 

Celso, A. N. (2015). Zarqawi’s Legacy: Al Qaeda’s ISIS “Renegade”. Mediterranean Quarterly , 26 (2), 21-41. 

Gunter, M. M. (2015). Iraq, Syria, ISIS and the Kurds: Geostrategic concerns for the US and Turkey. Middle East Policy , 22 (1), 102-111. 

Grim, B. J., & Finke, R. (2010). The price of freedom denied: Religious persecution and conflict in the twenty-first century . Cambridge University Press. 

Griswold, E. (2015). Is this the End of Christianity in the Middle East?. New York Times , 22 (7), 15. 

Kirmanc, Ş. (2013). Identity and nation in Iraq . Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 

Laub, Z., & Masters, J. (2014). The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Council on Foreign Relations , 14 . 

Steiner, N., Gibney, M., & Loescher, G. (Eds.). (2013). Problems of protection: the UNHCR, refugees, and human rights . Routledge. 

This Islamic State 'Price List' For Females Is Genuine, Says The UN . (2018). HuffPost UK . Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/05/isis-slave-price-list-genuine-united-nations-official_n_7939080.html