Christians persecuted in Iraq
Church minister Ragheed Ganni left his congregation in Mosul after the Sunday service on 3 June. He was accompanied by three deacons, Ghassan, Bassam and Basman Joseph. As the men drove away a car cut them off and four armed men got out. Ragheed and the three deacons were shot dead.
A week earlier a Christian husband and wife were beheaded in Baghdad and a 19-year-old Christian man was shot dead, because he refused to convert to Islam.
An undated letter addressed to Christians in Baghdad from Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army has ordered that Christian women must wear the Islamic headscarf just like Muslim women. The letter goes on to say that special committees have been set up in order to monitor Christians to see if they comply. The letter threatens grave consequences for any woman who refuses to wear the veil.
