Iraq

Iraq: coordinated blasts rock churches

By Peter Lamprecht - Compass Direct News, 7 January 2008

Four Iraqi churches and three convents were damaged in coordinated bomb blasts in the morning of January 6, the day many Iraqi Christians celebrate either Epiphany or Christmas Eve according to some Eastern liturgical calendars. At least six people were injured, one seriously.

© 2008 Compass Direct. – Posted on Religioscope with permission from Compass Direct. – Compass Direct (Santa Ana, California) is a Christian news service dedicated to providing news on situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith. Compass Direct maintains an extensive network of news bureaus and correspondents around the world.

Iraq: Istanbul conference enflames sectarian tensions

By Sumedha Senanayake - RFE/RL, 23 December 2006

On December 13-14, 2006, Turkey hosted a “Conference for the Support of the Iraqi People” in Istanbul that brought together more than 150 attendees, including politicians, religious figures, intellectuals and activists, from both inside and outside Iraq.

© 2006 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/

Iraq: Christians debate self-autonomy to halt exodus

By Peter Lamprecht - Compass Direct, 23 December 2006

A new plan for Christian self-autonomy within Iraq’s Kurdish region has sparked debate among Iraqi Christian leaders desperate to halt the mass exit of Christians from Iraq. Iraq’s half-a-dozen or more historical churches, many of them dating back to the first three centuries after Christ, agree that something must be done to preserve their existence. But consensus on a solution has proven elusive.

© 2005 Compass Direct. – Posted on Religioscope with permission from Compass Direct. – Compass Direct (Santa Ana, California) is a Christian news service dedicated to providing news on situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith. Compass Direct maintains an extensive network of news bureaus and correspondents around the world.

Iraq: Mecca Charter unlikely to stem sectarian violence

By Sumedha Senanayake - RFE/RL, 25 October 2006

Last week, approximately 50 Iraqi religious leaders signed a text in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia in the hopes that it would lead to the end the sectarian bloodshed that has been raging in Iraq for eight months. However, many questions persist as to whether this document can seriously affects the security situation in Iraq.

© 2006 RFE/RL, Inc. for the article. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/

Iraq: Islamist women speak out on Constitution

By , 12 August 2005

Radio Free Iraq (RFI) correspondent Asma al-Sarraj recently interviewed female Islamist activists on the constitution. She spoke with Mahdiya Abd al-Lami, a member of the Muslim Women’s Federation who advocates a constitution based on Islamic law. Al-Sarraj also interviewed Islamist activist Salama Sumaysim, who said she represents the voice of “moderate Islam.”

© 2005 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Website: http://www.rferl.org/

Iraq: electoral choices vary in Shia areas

By IWPR, 31 January 2005

Voters in the south may be solidly behind the election, but support for the main Shia-led faction is not monolithic. Before the election, analysts predicted that Shia voters would largely back the United Iraqi Alliance. But on the day, Shia voters expressed a variety of opinions.

This article was first published on 30 January 2005 (ICR No. 106) by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), London. Posted on Religioscope with permission.

Articles published by the IWPR on Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iraq as well as other topics can be accessed on its website: www.iwpr.net

Iraq: kidnapped archbishop released unharmed

By Barbara G. Baker - Compass Direct, 19 January 2005

Less than 24 hours after armed gunmen kidnapped the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Mosul, the 66-year-old cleric was set free today unharmed. Although kidnapping has become a common phenomenon in Iraq, it remains unclear whether the motive of Casmoussa’s abductors was political, religious or financial.

Iraq: Christians fleeing to Jordan, Syria

By Dale Gavlak - Compass Direct, 10 October 2004

A quiet but steady hemorrhaging of Iraq’s ancient Christian presence is underway and little is being done to stem the flow. Written threats, kidnappings, bombings and murder by Muslim extremists are driving thousands of Iraq’s minority Christian population out of their ancestral homeland, fleeing for safety to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

© 2004 Compass Direct. – Posted on Religioscope with permission from Compass Direct. – Compass Direct (Santa Ana, California) is a Christian news service dedicated to providing news on situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith. Compass Direct maintains an extensive network of news bureaus and correspondents around the world.

Iraq: Yazidis fear renewed persecution

By Wisam al-Jaff and Aqil Jabbar and IWPR staff in Khanke, Dohuk, Baghdad and Mosul, 15 April 2004

Most of Iraq’s myriad ethnic and religious communities have wrestled with questions of identity in the tumultuous year that has followed the fall of Saddam. But for members of the Yazidis – a pre-Islamic faith professed by a minority of Kurds – the stakes may be higher than for most. For the Yazidis, the choice between identifying themselves with the Kurds or seeking special status, is a particularly urgent one.

Aqil Jabbar and Wisam al-Jaff are Iraqi journalists.

© 2004 IWPR – This article was first published on 15 April 2004 (ICR No. 59) by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), London. Posted on Religioscope with permission. Articles published by the IWPR on Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iraq as well as other topics can be accessed on its website: www.iwpr.net

Iraq: controversial Shia ritual under fire

By Emad al-Sharei - IWPR, 5 April 2004

Some Shia clerics are now recommending believers to donate their blood instead of shedding it in a ritual to commemorate the Imam Hussein.

Emad al-Sharei is a trainee journalist with IWPR in Baghdad.

This article was published in the Iraqi Crisis Report, N° 55, 31 March 2004. Posted on Religioscope with permission. Articles published by the IWPR on Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iraq as well as other topics can be accessed on its website: www.iwpr.net.