Rome (AsiaNews) – Iraqi Christians have brought their silent marches to the West, calling for justice and an end to the persecution visited upon them daily in their homeland. As people in the Plain of Nineveh march every day demanding the truth about the murder of Mgr Faraj Rahho, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Iraqi immigrants in the Netherlands, Germany and Canada (see photo) have taken to the streets, waving banners and holding up photos of their martyrs. For some demonstrators Monsignor Rahho is “a symbol for every Iraqi Christian,” not only for the Chaldean community.
In the meantime the “targeted killing” of Christians continue in the country between the two rivers, ostensibly to terrorise and drive them from the land.
On 23 March, Easter Sunday, a young Chaldean man, Zahar Oshana, died in hospital from gunshot wounds he suffered as the left St Elias Parish Church in Baghdad.
Above everything else, including terrorism, people in Iraq want dialogue and reconciliation, and a sign of this is coming from Mosul.
Last month Muslim students from the city’s university handed out leaflets reproducing a poem written in honour of the slain bishop. The news report, which appeared on www.ankawa.com, said that the verses in question expressed sincere and humane sentiments about the martyred Rahho.
In the leaflet the young writers also condemned the tragic situation that has seen 90 per cent of the city fall into the hands of Sunni extremism.
