Tag: Basra

Iraq: Basra Christians living in ‘deep fear and mistrust’

November 21, 2017 Iraq Armenians, Basra, Catholics, Chaldeans, Iraq, Islamic extremism

The remaining Christians in the southern Iraqi city of Basra are living in a climate of “deep fear and mistrust” of the Muslim majority, despite recent attempts to promote inter-religious harmony, according to Al-Monitor. In September, for instance, an Armenian organisation helped to erect a statue of the Virgin Mary, . . . Read More

First Christian school to open in Iraq since 1970s

November 9, 2017 Iraq Basra, Chaldeans, Children, Iraq

Iraq has given permission for the first new Christian school to open in the country since 1974, when education was nationalised, reports Asia News. The Catholic primary school will open in September 2018 in Basra, near the country’s Gulf coast. Chaldean Archbishop of Basra, Alhava Habib Jajou, said he hopes . . . Read More

Christian killed in Basra for ‘selling alcohol’

November 4, 2016 Iraq Basra, Iraq, Qaraqosh

A Christian shop owner said to be serving alcohol was shot dead in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, days after the country’s parliament passed a law prohibiting the commodity deemed “un-Islamic”. Nizar Elias Musa, 47, was shot in the neck late on Tuesday (25 Oct.) by two unidentified gunmen riding . . . Read More

Christian women in Baghdad face intimidation to veil

December 18, 2015 Iraq Baghdad, Basra, Hijab, Women

The offensive poster is aimed squarely at Christian women The few Christians still holding out in Baghdad have found themselves on the receiving end of another barrage of intimidation. Posters appeared on the morning of 13 Dec. – a Sunday – near Christian places of worship with a message . . . Read More

New urgency for an old idea: Nineveh

September 17, 2014 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Basra, Fallujah, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Saddam Hussein, Tel Kaif

An ancient Nineveh gate, east of Mosul.James Gordon / Flickr / Creative Commons The militant Islamist rampage across Iraq has intensified calls for a Christian “safe zone,” even as it has made the task of achieving it more difficult. The jihadists, who call their movement the “Islamic State,” have . . . Read More

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