Can Christians in Iraq count on investigators to be fair and impartial?
“Iraqi investigation concludes fireworks as reason for Hamdaniya fire; church rejects results,” by Azhi Rasul, Rudaw, October 1, 2023:
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s interior ministry on Sunday announced that the tragic fire at a Hamdaniya banquet hall was “accidental”, noting that the fire was caused as a result of contact between a fire source with highly flammable material inside the banquet hall, and the Syriac Catholic Church has rejected the results.
“The investigation committee conclusively found out that the incident was accidental and it was not intentional at all,” Major General Kadhim Salman Buhan, advisor to the Iraqi interior minister said in a press conference in Baghdad….
Minutes following the press conference, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Benedictus Younan Hanno slammed the results of the investigation committee and that the church rejected the results of the investigations.
“We rejected it [the results], we don’t accept it. Now we will meet with the religious leaders in the area and we will have a decision regarding this matter within 24 hours,” said Archbishop Hanno….
“I call on all the Christian people who are with us, and those who are associated to me, to boycott the elections,” said the Archbishop, saying that this might be their official stance within 24 hours.
“We want a fight against real corrupt people and a report that quenches our thirst,” He said, adding that they reject the conclusion of fireworks being the main reason for the fire, “there are tens of videos showing that it they were not the reason.”
Some 1,000 people were celebrating the wedding of Haneen, the bride, and Rivan, the groom, in a banquet hall in the Iraqi northern town of Hamdaniya on Tuesday night. Their joy soon turned into a tragedy after a fire broke out and killed over 100 party-goers….
Hamdaniya is one of Iraq’s only Christian-majority districts, located in the Nineveh Plains near Mosul, a historic Assyrian region. Like many Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, it was taken over by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists during their brazen sweep of northern Iraq, where they declared a so-called “caliphate” and inflicted grave atrocities on minority groups, including Christians.
“Iraq wedding tragedy: Groom says fireworks not cause of fire,” by Julian Bechocha, Rudaw, October 1, 2023:
HAMDANIYA, Iraq – The groom whose wedding celebration catastrophically ended in over a hundred deaths told Rudaw English on Sunday that fireworks were not the cause of the fire that burned down the hall, contradicting investigation findings of the Iraqi interior ministry. He blamed the hall’s owner for the blaze.
Rivan, 27, feels he has “nothing to talk about” after a deadly blaze during his wedding party in the Christian town of Hamdaniya in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province. He said that fireworks were not the reason for the tragedy and called for an international investigation to determine the reason.
“It is not true. We demand for an international committee to investigate this, for international organizations to help us,” Rivan told Rudaw English in Hamdaniya, contradicting a Sunday conclusion by the Iraqi interior ministry that malfunctioning fireworks resulted in the inferno.
Rivan’s father, Esho, said he lost at least 20 members of his family in the fire and that the bride Haneen’s family has lost at least 35 people.
Tragedy struck the Assyrian Christian town of Hamdaniya in Nineveh province, also known as Qaraqosh or Bakhdida, on Tuesday night during a joyous wedding when scenes of celebration and laughter soon derailed into a hellish nightmare when the banquet hall caught on fire. At least a hundred died and over 150 were also injured.
“There is nothing left. We are seeing greater and greater sufferings every day, more and more victims,” Rivan said. He also stated that the tragedy has made it impossible for the newly-weds and their families to remain in Hamdaniya. “How can we stay after what we saw?” he said.
“My wife is shocked. Nine people from her house passed away. She cannot talk. She can barely get up and walk and needs to be supported by one or two people to walk. How can she handle this? She is just an 18-year-old girl,” he said, visibly distraught and powerless.
Asked about how they are being treated, Rivan said that “thankfully the people are all by our side” but that “it is the people’s right” to treat them poorly because “their hearts are broken.”
“We demand the rights of those whose blood was spilt. Why did their blood have to be spilled? We demand their rights and we demand the perpetrator of this action, him and all who are behind him. We demand an international investigation, not a local or federal investigation,” he said….
Authorities are also often criticized for failing to conduct impartial investigations and hold the perpetrators of crimes accountable….
Hamdaniya is one of Iraq’s only Christian-majority districts, located in the Nineveh Plains near Mosul, a historic Assyrian region. Like many Christian towns in the Nineveh Plains, it was taken over by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists during their brazen sweep of northern Iraq, where they declared a so-called “caliphate” and inflicted grave atrocities on minority groups, including Christians.
“Life here for us is no longer suitable for living,” he said.
somehistory says
“contact between a fire source with highly flammable material”
Of course it was. How many fires don’t have a “fire source”? How many fires don’t have “flammable material”?
Why not say what was the “fire source”?
I can kind of know how they feel….how many were arrested for fire bombs of clinics where women were being helped and encouraged to keep their unborn children, right here in the U.S. where the same laws are supposed to apply to all?
Will boycotting the elections help the Christians? Voting or not voting is up to each one; but they probably won’t change the results either way.
If a mozlum runs, will not a mozlum win where mozlums can set fires, murder hundreds and not face any consequences?
Hudders. says
Too true SH; too true….
There could have been 1000 raging lunatic islamic jihadists throwing grenades in a surrounding circle, singing, dancing and jumping for joy as the Church burned,
But still any ‘investigation/inquiry’ would of course prove accident, or some other steaming pile of dishonesty.
The decks are stacked always in favour of the devil, when it comes to the desert death cult.
Hoi Polloi says
What a ridiculous statement, sh. And sadly, “We demand for an international committee to investigate this, for international organizations to help us,” these something flammable liars are backed by far too many international orgs who will block investigations.
Hoi Polloi says
As in thanks for noting the preposterous and ridiculous nature of such a statement, and in an official report, no less.
Burnaby Lad says
When isis was crushed Iraq sent returnees to Mosul, sunnis chuckled.
Today is the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu, Al Qaeda gave Aidid RPG rounds with timed fuses(five helicopters shot down)
OLD GUY says
Hey its ok it was only 100 Christians killed and their church burnt, not a QURAN. If the dirty little book had been burnt there would have been a major world wide outcry and investigation by the world wide law enforcement agencies to bring these criminals to justice.
Burnaby Lad says
today@strategypage.com China is negotiating with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to provide food and other aid in exchange for allowing China to safely establish surveillance cameras throughout the country and use Afghanistan as a transit zone for Chinese operations in surrounding countries.
soup and crackers