October 23, 2007

Two other Christians abducted; Orthodox priest’s son shot to death.

ISTANBUL – Two Iraqi priests kidnapped more than a week ago said they returned to their Mosul parish in good health yesterday morning and immediately celebrated mass.

Captors freed Father Pius Affas and Father Mazen Ishoa at an undisclosed location in Mosul at 11 a.m., Fr. Affas told Compass today. The release came a day after two other Christians were abducted and an Orthodox priest’s son was shot to death.

“They were very good to us,” the Syrian Catholic priest said in broken English by telephone from Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Fr. Affas said that he and Fr. Ishoa had not sustained any injuries while in captivity and repeatedly thanked all those who had prayed for their release.

Kidnappers have tortured several of the seven Iraqi priests kidnapped in Baghdad during the past year.

The priests said they were healthy enough to celebrate mass for their congregation at St. Thomas’ church on the day of their release. But another Mosul clergyman told Compass that he was uncertain whether the captors had actually treated the priests well.

“It’s normal for [Fr. Affas and Fr. Ishoa] not to explain everything on the telephone, because their kidnappers have probably told them not to talk about [torture],” said the clergyman, who requested anonymity. He said that the priests’ telephones were likely tapped and their movements monitored.

“We won’t know the exact details until we meet them [in person],” the priest said.

Fr. Affas did not comment on whether the church had paid a $1 million ransom initially demanded by the kidnappers. The priests’ captors had given Syrian Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa until Saturday (October 20) to raise the money.

Church negotiators had been especially worried for the priests’ welfare after they were unable to contact the kidnappers on Friday and Saturday, Catholic news agency Asia News reported.

Unknown men kidnapped Fr. Affas, 68, and Fr. Ishoa, in his 30s, on October 13 in Mosul’s Hay al-Thawra neighborhood. The priests had traveled to the area following the death of an elderly parishioner.

Head priest at St. Thomas parish, Fr. Affas is also director of Mosul’s Biblical Center for lay people and former editor-in-chief of Arabic-language magazine Christian Thoughts.

A Mosul priest told Compass that prior to his capture, Fr. Affas had received letters threatening to attack his congregation if they did not leave the city. Christians in Iraq continue to report attacks targeting their community amid the greater violence between Sunni and Shiite militias and U.S. forces.

A Vatican spokesperson registered the Pope’s happiness over news of the release and said he hoped similar kidnappings would not continue in the future. Pope Benedict XVI had appealed for the liberation of the two clergymen during a papal address in Rome last week.

More Kidnappings

Two Christians from a village outside of Mosul were kidnapped on Saturday afternoon (October 20) in Mosul city, according to a Christian source.

The captors demanded a large ransom from the family, who requested that the names of the Christians not be published for security reasons.

Separately, the son of a Syrian Orthodox priest was shot to death yesterday morning in the town of Basheeqa, 15 miles northeast of Mosul, according to Iraqi Christian website Ankawa.com. The website reported that he had just returned from the city of Dohuk and had stepped out of his car when he was killed by a single bullet.

The identity of the murderer and the motive for the attack remain unclear, according to the article.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that at least 2 million Iraqis have fled the country since 2003, and another 2 million are internally displaced.

Christians made up 3 percent of Iraq’s population before the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, but hundreds of thousands are estimated to have since fled their homes amid the anarchic violence throughout much of the country.

Some of the worst violence against Christians has occurred in Baghdad and Mosul.

Syrian Catholics belong to an eastern rite church in communion with Rome.

Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News. Used with permission.