PROTESTANT CHURCH LEADERS SAY CHRISTIANS NEED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002010 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2017 TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KDEM KIRF IZ SUBJECT: PROTESTANT CHURCH LEADERS SAY CHRISTIANS NEED REFUGEE STATUS REF: A) BAGHDAD 1425 B) BAGHDAD 1190 C) 06 BAGHDAD 0573 Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT GILCHRIST FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Pastor Estawri Haritounian and Pastor Bardilyan Yousif Aziz Hanna, representing the National Protestant Evangelical Church in Iraq, informed PolOff on May 10 that due to increased targeting of Christians in Iraq, they were seeking protection and resettlement for members of their congregations in Baghdad. It is difficult to validate that the targeting is primarily motivated by religious persecution for its own sake, rather than general criminal activity. Pastor Estawri noted that Christian leaders representing other denominations at the Council of Christian Church Leaders in Baghdad (CCCB),of which he is a member, actually oppose Christian migration out of Iraq; however, he chose to advocate the view of many Christians who say they must leave Iraq to avoid persecution. Pastor Bardilyan referenced his own experience of having survived a fifteen-day kidnapping ordeal in February. Pastor Estawri claimed that during a meeting in March with Sunni, Shia, and Non-Muslim Endowment leaders, PM Maliki was unresponsive to their joint appeal for greater protection of religious facilities. In response to their inquiries, post has offered to meet with the pastors to discuss assistance and resettlement of Iraqi refugees. END SUMMARY -------------- -------------- ESTAWRI: TARGETING OF CHRISTIANS WORSE IN LAST SIX MONTHS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On May 10, Pastor Estawri Haritounian and Pastor Bardilyan Yousif Aziz Hanna told PolOff that they were seeking refugee opportunities for their congregations due to what they said was worsening targeting of Christians in Baghdad during the last six months. Pastor Estawri said that he has compiled a database of 210 accounts of anti-Christian targeting from Christian families. Emphasizing the families' fear of facing reprisals if the information were compromised, Estawri explained that he would only release the information in order to help the families file applications for refugee status. ¶3. (C) Estawri asserted that the recent targeting of Christians by Sunni insurgents in the Doura district of Baghdad is but the newest development in a string of persecution (ref A). Estawri said that the situation for Christians in Iraq worsened after Pope Benedict XVI'S public reading of controversial statements about Islam in September ¶2006. He noted the killings in Mosul of Assyrian priest Father Paulos Iskender in October 2006 and of National Presbyterian Church Elder Munthir Alsaqa in November 2006. Pastor Estawri added that in his capacity as the assistant to Archbishop Avak Asadourian -- the General Secretary of the CCCB and Primate of the Iraqi Armenian Diocese -- he received information that seven Chaldean priests had been kidnapped in Baghdad since the Pope's statement (ref B). ¶4. (C) Estawri said that the CCCB attempted to quell violence against Christians by putting signs on churches and making media announcements declaring that they were not responsible for the Pope's statements. Despite these measures, Estawri noted that insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda, pressing in from the eastern and western sides of Baghdad, continued to target Christian families with kidnappings, forced evictions from homes, and extortion. In addition, the Jaysh Al-Mahdi (JAM) militia targeted not only Sunnis, but also Christian owners of movie theaters, restaurants, and liquor stores. He added that given the situation, he had no choice but to support the idea of Christian migration from Iraq -- which most other Christian leaders from other denominations represented at the CCCB oppose. (Note: Per Estawri, the CCCB, headed by Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, normally meets every six months to discuss Christian concerns across sects and can also convene for emergencies. It last met on April 25 to discuss the Christians' worsening security situation. End Note.) -------------- BARDILYAN DESCRIBES OWN KIDNAPPING -------------- ¶5. (C) As an example of recent anti-Christian targeting, Pastor Bardilyan referenced his own kidnapping ordeal, lasting from his abduction in the Doura district of Baghdad on February 12 until his release on February 27. In a separate meeting on April 25, Bardilyan had discussed his kidnapping and provided PolOff with officially stamped statements on his case recorded by an investigative judge at BAGHDAD 00002010 002 OF 002 a Baghdad police station. Bardilyan relayed that on February 12, three hooded gunmen on Street 60 in Hayy Assya in Doura forced him out of his car when he was with his wife, whom they slapped on the face and threatened for not wearing a head covering (hijab). He reported his attackers asked him if he was "Priest Bardilyan" even though he was not wearing religious garb at the time. According to Bardilyan, the gunmen then knocked him unconscious by hitting him on the head with a pistol, but let his wife go before stealing his car. ¶6. (C) Bardilyan said that he was blindfolded and handcuffed throughout his abduction. He reported his abductors moved him about six times from vehicle to vehicle en route to his final holding area -- possibly a farm, since it smelled like sheep. Bardilyan assessed he was in an insurgents' camp. He said he heard orders from a "master" to many "hajiis", but never any names. Bardilyan noted people screaming as if they were being tortured; however, none of the detainees said a word to each other, and he considered it a miracle that no one hurt him during his captivity. ¶7. (C) Before releasing him, Bardilyan's captors reportedly gave him the options of converting and becoming a leader for the insurgency, paying "jizya" (a tax levied on non-Muslims during early Islam),or leading the Christians out of Iraq. After being released in the Al-Mua'mra neighborhood in Doura, Bardilyan learned that his abductors had called his wife with his cell phone and demanded 15 million Iraqi dinars (approximately 15,000 USD) in ransom. His wife told him his kidnappers chose a place for her to await their collection of the ransom money, which she delivered on February 26, a day before his release. -------------- -------------- RELIGIOUS ENDOWMENTS APPEAL TO MALIKI FOR MORE SECURITY -------------- -------------- ¶8. (C) Pastor Estawri reported that during a meeting with Prime Minister Maliki in March, leaders from the Non-Muslim, Sunni, and Shiite religious endowments jointly raised issues such as the need to provide greater security to Baghdad religious facilities, regardless of sect. (Note: The three endowments receive funding from the state to maintain their respective religious facilities and were formed after Iraq's Ministry for Religious Affairs was dissolved under the Coalition Provisional Authority in August 2003. End note.) Estawri said the religious endowments had formed a pact agreeing to cooperate and declare support for the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP) in order to stop attacks on religious establishments. Estawri expressed frustration that in response to the endowments' appeal, he claimed Maliki only remarked, "In fact, we (the government) need more protection". ¶9. (C) In a separate conversation with PolOff on June 11, Dr. Mehdi Salih Hussain, the public affairs representative for the Sunni Endowment, confirmed Estawri's report that as an outcome of the March meeting with PM Maliki, the religious endowments had signed a joint pledge to support BSP in order to protect religious sites. Dr. Mehdi also complained that the pledge did not apparently help improve security for religious sites. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (C) The Pastors' concerns are consistent with those that Iraqi Christian leaders have raised since early 2006 (ref C). Pervasive reluctance by Christians to provide specific details of targeting due to fears of retribution is a large factor constraining Post's ability to validate the scale and nature of the phenomenon. It is also difficult to validate that the targeting is primarily motivated by religious persecution for its own sake, rather than general criminal activity. Post will continue to maintain awareness of the situation and provide the pastors with information on refugee programs. END COMMENT. CROCKER