Tag: Assyrians

Iranian church closed, cross torn down

May 24, 2019 Iran Armenians, Assyrians, Crosses, Iran, Minorities

The cross was removed from the church's tower. (Photo: Article 18)

An Assyrian church in northwestern Iran has been closed down and the cross removed from its tower, reports advocacy organisation Article 18. A “large number” of agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and EIKO, an organisation presided over by the Supreme Leader, reportedly stormed the 100-year-old-church on 9 May, changed . . . Read More

Pope and Assyrian patriarch ‘share suffering’ of Christians in Middle East

November 12, 2018 Assyrians, Iraq, Middle East, Minorities, Pope Francis, Syria

Pope Francis met with Mar Gewargis III, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, at the Vatican on Friday, 9 November. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pope Francis and the head of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Gewargis III, have called for an end to the violence against Christians in the Middle East, following their meeting in Rome on Friday, 9 November, reports Catholic news site Crux. The church leaders said both communities “shared . . . Read More

Syria’s Christian villages ‘hollowed out’ by IS

August 17, 2018 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria, Women

Before the war there were many churches in the area around Hassaka who held regular services, like this one in Tel Jezirah. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2009)

The Islamic State, following its defeat in Syria, has left behind hollowed-out Christian villages, reports the New York Times. Assyrian Christians, an indigenous Middle Eastern minority, once formed thriving farming communities along the Khabur River in Syria’s northeast. But when IS attacked the area in 2015, the militants demolished churches and kidnapped . . . Read More

Nineveh Plains Christians ‘slowly returning to normal’

August 8, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

Four years since IS seized the town of Karamles in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, the local Christian community are “returning, albeit slowly, to normal”, AsiaNews reports. Hundreds of Christians joined in a procession following a Mass at the weekend, holding candles and chanting psalms, to celebrate their return and the new life . . . Read More

Jail for Iranian pastor’s son found guilty of ‘acting against national security’

July 18, 2018 Iran Assyrians, Converts, Iran, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Victor Bet-Tamraz

Ramil Bet-Tamraz was one of the Christians arrested during a picnic in the Alborz Mountains north of Tehran last August. His father, Victor, was arrested on 26 December 2014 for celebrating Christmas.

The son of an influential pastor silenced by the Iranian government has been handed a four-month jail sentence for his involvement with illegal house churches, World Watch Monitor has learnt. Ramil Bet Tamraz’s lawyers were informed of the sentence for “acting against national security” on 8 July. One of the . . . Read More

Iranian Christian woman pleads with UN to help family overturn ‘false and unjust’ spy charges

June 27, 2018 Iran Assyrians, Converts, Iran, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

An Iranian Christian woman pleaded with the UN’s Human Rights Council today to urge Iran to overturn “false and baseless charges” imposed on her father, mother and brother. Dabrina Bet-Tamraz’s parents and brother are appealing against lengthy jail sentences they have received for church-related activities. The appeal by her father, . . . Read More

Chaldean Patriarch congratulates surprise Iraqi election winner

May 23, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Dohuk, Elections, Iraq, Kirkuk, Louis Raphael I Sako, Nineveh Plains, Shia, Sunni, Syriacs

The Chaldean Patriarch, Louis Sako, has telephoned Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to congratulate him on his unexpected victory in the country’s recent parliamentary elections. The Patriarchate also said that Sako told Sadr he hoped for a government that promotes the common good of all the Iraqi people. According to . . . Read More

Iran: appeal heard by judge with ‘poor track record in dealing with Christians’

April 26, 2018 Iran Ahmed Shaheed, Amin Afshar Naderi, Assyrians, Blasphemy, Converts, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Proselytism, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

Four Iranian Christians each sentenced to at least ten years in prison had their first appeal hearing yesterday (25 April). In the hearing, initially scheduled for February but postponed, a judge heard the case of Christian converts Hadi Asgari, Amin Afshar-Naderi, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi and Assyrian pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz. At least . . . Read More

Iraq’s Assyrian Christians: persecution and resurgence

April 4, 2018 Iraq Ankawa, Assyrians, Bartella, Chaldeans, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Migrants, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Saddam Hussein, Syria, Women, Yazidis

Samir Gedhya never wanted to leave his home in Qaraqosh for the unknown, even when the Islamic State group was almost at his doorstep, sweeping through the towns of Iraq. As the menace to Qaraqosh loomed, his eldest son Faraj, then 16, decided to flee to France, entering by a . . . Read More

Easter in Qaraqosh – for many their first since returning home

April 3, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Easter, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

On Sunday, many of Iraq’s Christians celebrated their first Easter since returning to their homes. With the help of local churches and other organisations, people in the country’s largest Christian city, Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdida), have restored their homes and are now attempting to recover the lives they lost . . . Read More

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