"Cold-blooded murders and Christians terrorised in Mosul, the repeal of art. 50 which deprives the minorities of their representatives within the provincial councils. Why, we ask the world, do the Iraqi Christians have to suffer such attacks? Why are they killing us and denying us our rights?". This is the heart-felt appeal received by SIR and been made today by father Philip Najim, Chaldean procurator to the Holy See, as he commented the serious state in which the local Christian communities are. "Over the last few weeks he says ,we are witnessing a new, the umpteenth, wave of violence that is affecting the Christian community of Mosul, where armed groups enter the districts where the Christians live and kill anyone they find on their way. These are cold-blooded murders made in daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses, as if these groups wanted to prove they can do what they like scot-free, that they have control over the city. Dozens of families have left Mosul, either because they had been directly threatened or because they were scared, and the few that decided to stay live barricaded in their houses and do not dare go out, not even to take their children to school. The purpose is clearly to spread terror to drive the ancient Christian component out of the city, to complete a work that began years ago". (continued)
