ICC Note: Iranian militias, who claim to be fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, are instead, targeting Iraqi Christians and forcibly removing them from their homes. Iraqi Christians have experienced forcible displacement from ISIS, intense hiding, fear, the loss of loved ones, and now, the loss of their belongings. Although the Iraqi government has appealed to Iranian troops to stop this persecution of its Christians, there seems to be no sign of change.
02/09/2016 Baghdad (AINA) – Iran-backed militias have seized homes, businesses and cultural sites, including churches belonging to Baghdad’s Christian communities, forcing individuals to resettle and forfeit all their belongings, according to members of the Christian members of the Iraqi Parliament.
The militias have targeted properties belonging to Christians, forcing individuals to leave the area, according to Christian community leaders, including representatives from the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac minorities, as well as the Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq who have condemned the attacks, calling them a form of ethnic cleansing aimed to rid Baghdad of its Christians.
“Their claim is that the property of a non-Christian is halal, meaning it can be seized,” Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sacco said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat.
According to leaders, the seizures have been carried out in the upscale regions of Baghdad, where militia men have forced entry into homes and businesses with falsified documents.
“We are begging, once again, appealing to the conscience of government officials and authorities from Sunni and Shiite states in order to do something meaningful to safeguard the life and dignity and property of all Iraqis, because they are human,” Sacco said.
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