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An update on this story. "Iraq: Two kidnapped clergymen in Iraq released," from Compass Direct:
ISTANBUL, October 22 (Compass Direct News) – 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.
[...]
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.
Posted by Marisol at October 23, 2007 8:59 AM
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Yes Mr Spencer, but on the good side, the shiite politicians are safely tucked up in the Green zone and the US are arming the Sunni tribes.
So it's all plusses and minuses really.
Posted by: ewha1![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 23, 2007 9:33 AM
I bet this won't show up on CNN. Dead Christians in Iraq, no big deal. The only thing they're interested in are possible abuses by US troops. The big "Christian" George Bush isn't losing any sleep either, I bet.
Posted by: SerbInfidel at October 23, 2007 9:47 AM
..the ones shot to death could not pay the ransom...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at October 23, 2007 4:11 PM
Islamists slaughter Infidels in Iraq. Nothing happens.
Islamists riot in Europe. Nothing happens.
There is no difference, none, between some Euro mayor bribing the Islamic hordes to keep quiet for a week or so, with the US pouring in the billions in construction in Iraq and refusing point blank to arm the Iraqi Infidels.
Nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Posted by: ewha1 at October 24, 2007 12:34 AM
This makes me think - specially as we are coming up to All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
I know there's the 'Religion of Peace' site which lists jihad attacks.
I know that there are Jewish websites that list the 'victims of terror'.
But - correct me if I'm wrong - do we have, somewhere, a 'Tears of Jihad' website, or a 'Martyrs for Soul Freedom' website, which posts the names - and the faces, where possible - of those who have been murdered by the jihad in, say, anything from the past fifty years forward, especially and particularly the civilians, people like this priest's son, or the Buddhist monks and schoolteachers in southern Thailand.
Have one gateway and then you can visit the portrait gallery - Jewish section, Christian section, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, secularists (like Theo Van Gogh). Faces and names and the date and manner of death. The children of Beslan. The London Bombing victims. With appropriate texts that the visitor could choose to recite - e.g. the Kaddish for the Jews, a portion of the requiem for the Christians. Light a virtual candle and send some money to a designated charity such as the Barnabas Fund - I'm sure there must be other reputable bodies, in Israel for instance, that offer help and counsel to victims of jihad violence or that genuinely stand up for freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Some families might give permission for their loved one's face to feature on a downloadable poster, flyer, or T-shirt.
Such a site might be handy for what Hugh Fitzgerald likes to call the 'kumbaya' interfaith taqiyya gatherings - print off a list of 'unarmed Christians/ Buddhists/ Hindus/ Jews recently murdered by Muslims', for example, about a yard long, and rub the participants' noses in it.
The Muslims crow about their martyr-murderers. Time for us Infidels to remember OUR martyrs.
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at October 25, 2007 4:56 AM
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