By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

MOSUL, Iraq- On Sunday, three bombs simultaneously went off targeting two Christian churches and a convent.  The three bombs went off between 11 and 11:30 am injuring four people.  The bombs were possibly coordinated to instill greater fear in Iraqi Christians and to remind them that they are not immune to the violence occurring between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki met with Monsignor Francis Assisi Chullikatt, the Vatican’s Ambassador, to reassure him that the Iraqi government is taking every step possible to ensure the safety of Christians.  “The Iraqi government is anxious to ensure the safety of Iraqi Christians,” Maliki assured the ambassador.  (AFP)

Since 2004, Iraqi Christians believed report that they have been targeted solely because of their religious affiliation.  Father Rayan Atto, a Chaldean pastor of an Erbil church, discussed the fate of his fellow Christians. “We have many, many young people — they were killed for any excuse. They were just killed because they were Christians.” (Pittsburgh Tribune- Review)

Some Christians have been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam.   Faris Mansour Hanna discussed his experience when he was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda operatives.  “They said, ‘We will release you, but we have one condition. You have to convert to Islam.’” However, since Hanna refused to convert “they beat my face and burned me with cigarettes.”  He went on to show the reporter conducting the interview his scars on his arm, hand, left cheek and forehead and significant scarring on his shoulders “from being dragged in the street, whipped and beaten with a metal pipe.”  However, his fellow kidnapped Christians were not released but were beheaded because the Christians had reportedly worked as translators for the Americans.  (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

For more information, please see:

AFP- Iraq working to ensure safety of Christians: Maliki- 8 January 2008

AP- Bomber Kills 11 at Iraqi Army Festival- 7 January 2008

BBC News- Christian sites targeted in Mosul- 7 January 2008

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review- No peace for Iraqi Christians- 23 December 2007