Father Hani Abdul Ahad, 33, of the Wisdom Chaldean Church was released Sunday, June 17, clearly "very tired but in good condition," his church said in statements. He was snatched by unidentified gunmen in Baghdad on June 6 with several young men who were apparently helping the priest move personal belongings while on their way to a Chaldean seminary.
The priest’s fellow Christians were released within 48 hours. Previous reports that a fifth young men was forced to stay with the priest proved to be unfounded. The auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, said the kidnappers had asked for a ransom, but he refused to say how much, if anything, was paid.
"We ask everyone to pay attention to our situation because at this moment Christians in Iraq are in a terrible state," he told reporters. "We have nothing against anyone, we only want to rebuild Iraq."
PRIEST KILLED
Another Chaldean Catholic priest, Ragheed Aziz Kani, and his three assistants were killed in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul this month. Pope Benedict XVI condemned the killings as "senseless" and later expressed concerns about Catholic priests kidnapped around the world, including in Iraq, BosNewsLife monitored.
The Chaldean rite is one of the ancient rites of the Catholic Church. Its members, mostly in Iraq and Syria, are in unity with Rome. The pressure on them comes amid growing concern about apparent terrorist attacks and threats against the Iraq’s rapidly shrinking Christian community.
When war broke out in Iraq four years ago there were at least 750,000 Christians in the country, according to conservative estimates, but church officials and rights groups believe less than half are still staying in the country amid ongoing attacks.
CHRISTIAN NEIGHBORHOODS
In Baghdad, the Christian Dora neighborhood has been "ethnically cleansed" of most of its
Christian residents, Catholics say, adding that two other districts, the al-Amariya and Hai al-Jamiya neighborhoods, have recently been targeted by suspected Islamic militants.
At least two Christian families in the al-Amariya were recently pressured to leave with a bomb blast in their garden, Catholic AsiaNews agency reported. No one was injured, but the blast damaged buildings, and families were reportedly forced to find refuge with neighbors.
When they tried to return to their shattered homes, they were allegedly awaited by militants who threatened to behead and burn them. Muslim neighbors who tried to help the Christians were allegedly also threatened.
FAMILIES FLEE
An estimated one thousand Christian families have fled Baghdad, after being threatened by Islamic extremists. Many Christian refugees are reportedly on their way to neighboring Jordan and Syria. Many Christians have fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria, rights groups churches said.
Christian organizations helping persecuted churches have accused "Islamic militias" of threatening Christians when they "refuse to convert to Islam," decline to pay taxes to Muslim groups, or refuse to "give a daughter for marriage to a Muslim."
Iraq’s government and the US-led coalition promised to target extremists, but have so far been unable to end the bloodshed in Iraq. On Monday, June 18, the US military said troops killed 20 suspected terrorists during an operation against a network transporting weapons from Iran to Iraq.
However elsewhere in Baghdad, on Monday, June 18, Iraqi police said two car bombs killed at least seven people lining up to buy fuel, while a car bomb in Fallujah killed at least three people. In Nasiriyah, at least four people were reportedly killed and more than 50 wounded in clashes between Iraqi police and ‘Mahdi Army’ fighters. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and BosNewsLife Monitoring and reports from Iraq).
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