ICC Note: Christians fled the Iraqi city of Mosul by the tens of thousands as the jihadist militants of ISIS approached. Now stories are emerging from residents who still live in Mosul about what has happened to the property of Christians who have fled. “Not one house owned by a Christian in Mosul was not taken over and looted by IS members.”
11/05/2014 Iraq (BBC) The northern Iraqi city of Mosul fell to Islamic State (IS) in June, bringing the population under the harsh rule of the jihadists. The militants swiftly introduced a regime in accordance with their radical version of Islam, including brutal punishments, strict rules for women and intolerance of any dissent.
In an exclusive series of diary installments, residents describe what life is like in Mosul since IS took over. The diarists’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
5 November 2014
From Nizar
[Editor’s note: Before Islamic State over-ran Mosul, the city was home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Most fled with the arrival of IS, who ordered the city’s remaining Christians to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face being killed]
Not one house owned by a Christian in Mosul was not taken over and looted by IS members, and all their belongings stolen, down to the last broomstick.
Some IS fighters have even moved into the Christians’ homes themselves, using everything in those houses as if they were their own.
They’ve inhabited all the areas and consider them as spoils of war, as if the Christians and the Yazidis [minority religious group] were the enemy, and by doing so, the IS has become a burden on our areas.
We feel ashamed to call our Christian and Yazidi friends, and I feel I cannot even phone them any more, as if it was me or one of my family or friends that committed those heinous crimes against them.
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