The dentist Shamir* stared at the letter in his hands. It said that he was impure because he was not a Muslim. It said he should leave the country immediately or face the consequences, and if he and his family hadn't left their house within eight hours, they would die.
Rage and fear were struggling in his body. Leave the house where his family lived for three generations! He had lived in Dora his whole life. It was the Christian district of Bagdad. Who did those guys think they were?
He remembered the story of one of his neighbours. They had not fled when the first letter appeared. After a few days, armed men came in and killed their dog. His neighbours left their house the same day. Within a few hours a Muslim family moved into the house.
Shamir picked up the DVD that was enclosed in the envelope and began watching it. The DVD started with some verses from the Quran. Then he saw a young man sitting on his knees. The man was interrogated by an armed man wearing balaclavas. The young man said he was a Christian. He lived and worked in Bagdad. Then the men explained to him that he was going to die.
Shamir had not heard his wife coming in. "What are you watching, Shamir?" she asked, but her question went unanswered as he was overcome with vomiting. Before their eyes, the young man was beheaded. Amal was sick too. "We have to flee," he whispered. "Pack only what is really necessary."
Within six hours the car was packed, and Shamir drove like a madman. Where to go, Syria or Jordan? Would he be allowed to go there? He was not sure. He decided to drive to the north, to Kurdistan, where he heard it was safe.
A few weeks later he was sitting in a small tract home in Kurdistan. He and his neighbour, a former teacher, tried to catch a goat and milk it, but neither one had any experience with these animals. Shamir was dirty, sweating and above all, frustrated.
How could he ever make a living in this place? His children were hanging around in the shadow of the house. They couldn't go to school because they did not speak Kurdish. Shamir sighed. What would the future bring for him and his children?
He was grateful for the small house. Of course every luxury was missing, but they were tolerated and allowed to stay. Shamir frowned as he thought about when winter would come and this little house had no heating system. Winters tend to be tough in these mountains.
Shamir's story is one of thousands. He and his family are internally displaced persons (IDPs). Every day 3,000 refugees flee to north Iraq. Forty per cent of them are Christians. Dora, in Baghdad, traditionally was a Christian area. Now it has been "religiously cleansed" of most Assyrian Christians.
Church Destroyed
Not only people, but also churches are increasingly targets of religious violence. On June 5, extremists broke into Mar Yacoub of Nisibin Church in the Dora neighbourhood. According to eyewitnesses, armed militants looted the church, removed the steeple cross, abducted two of its guards and took them to an unknown destination.
Extortion and Kidnapping
Persecution is going on not only in Bagdad but also in other cities. Open Doors fieldworkers met with people who fled from the area of Mosul. A man shared how his brother-in-law had been forced to pay $4,000 a month for two years to a Muslim group to be allowed to continue his business.
Then the brother-in-law was kidnapped, and the family received a demand for $600,000. They have managed to raise $150,000 so far, but this was not enough for the group holding him. Negotiations were going on when we talked with this man, but it's likely his brother-in-law has been murdered. Such stories of suffering are far too common.
Recently, an Islamic group visited all the families in one Christian quarter of Mosul. They asked for $5,000 (or $2,000 if the family was deemed poor), and it is estimated that now approximately three-quarters of the city has been threatened in some way. What is happening in their city is very similar to the events in the Dora area of Bagdad where religious cleansing is taking place.
Another man told Open Doors that his house had been bombed because they refused to pay $300,000. Another demand for $6,000 was made after the bombing, and because this could not be paid, the home of the owner's sister was also destroyed within two hours.
In June, a Christian was working in her office when some Muslims came and told her that they wanted her husband to move some bombs and weapons across the city. If this request was refused, then the couple would be forced to leave the city. Her husband was ill and unable to meet their demands, so they were preparing to leave. However, the group then demanded $3,000 or they would kill her. Such demands made by Islamic extremists are not uncommon for Christians.
Another man was known to have been visited by one of the armed groups in the area. He was also told that unless he worked to move bombs and weapons, he would be killed. He fled the city and now resides in a Christian village; he's lost everything but his life.
One woman, a highly educated engineer, refused to have sexual relations with a Muslim man so he threatened to kill her. Because of this, she fled the city to a Christian village some distance away. She had no time to return home to collect her things. Now she has nothing, not even her ration card, without which they are unable to get even basic provisions. This is common for many of the IDPs.
Poor Housing and Other Problems
In Kurdistan, some new houses have been built for IDPs, but they are poorly constructed. The houses are very cold in winter and very hot in the summer. IDPs often have nothing to furnish their new homes.
They have a great need for medical help but they have no money, not even for transportation to visit a doctor, let alone to purchase any medicines needed.
One family is living in the Kurdistan home of the wife's brother who was working in Syria. If he returns home, this family and another family who also moved in with them will have nowhere to live or any furniture. They left Baghdad because of threats on their lives and demands for money.
The husband of one family was highly educated with two degrees, but they fled their large home and good lifestyle empty handed. They knew if they had been stopped as they fled and anything was discovered (clothing, papers, and furniture), they would have been killed. They had been given 48 hours to leave Baghdad. In the little village where they took refuge, over 70 families have found shelter since September 2006. Before then, only 35 families inhabited the village.
Christians Murdered
Christians are being killed almost everyday in Iraq. Some are known to Open Doors, but many are unknown.
On June 3, a priest and three of his deacons were murdered in Mosul. Father Ragheed Keni, pastor of the Holy Spirit Church in the Al-Noor neighborhood of Mosul, was murdered along with his deacons by unidentified gunmen immediately after the Sunday Mass. The gunmen opened fire, sending a barrage of bullets into the priest and his deacons as they left the church premises.
Kidnapping
Every day Open Doors hears of kidnappings. Many kidnappings end with the victims being killed, even though relatives paid much money for their release.
A Christian man told us about his kidnapping. He simply drove into a roadblock and was taken out of his car. When his family didn't have $400,000 to pay for his release, negotiations started and funds as well as earnest prayers were raised. During his ordeal, the hostage developed a bond with the leader of the kidnappers. Was it God's grace? It surely helped him to survive.
He still suffers from emotional wounds. One day while he was being held, he was brought to a room where there were other captives. He was given a gun and asked to shoot the men. He couldn't do it. His heart raged with fear and he cried to God in his heart as he handed over the gun. Would he now be next in line? They laughed about his weakness but spared him.
The teasing went on when some days later he was brought into a room where somebody was at the point of being beheaded. He managed to talk himself out of the room. Finally his family was able to get him safely released for much less money than first asked for.
Is There Hope?
What is the future of the church of Iraq? Nobody knows. The trials of Iraq's Christian community are hard. From a human point of view, there is no hope. Only God, by our prayers, can change history. So pray for a living church in Iraq. Pray that the northern province of Kurdistan will stay stable, in spite of many factors that can destabilise the region.
Open Doors started a large relief project for the people who fled the violence. We are searching for more ways to extend our help, but it is no easy task. Pray for Open Doors' co-workers in this country who try to help.