Al Qaeda-linked group orders Iraqi Christians to leave country or have throats slit

Baghdad, Iraq, Nov 19, 2008 / 02:07 am

A Christian bishop in Iraq has received a threatening letter from an Islamic extremist group belonging to Al Qaeda which orders Christians to leave the country “immediately and permanently.”

The text of the letter, reportedly written by the Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Islam, was published in Arabic on the website of Al-Ittihad, an online daily news service, SIR reports.

The letter reads:

“The Secretary General of the members of the Islamic Brigade decided to give the Christian crusader infidels of Baghdad and the other provinces the last warning, to leave Iraq immediately and permanently and join Benedict XVI and his followers, who have trampled on the greatest symbols of humanity and Islam.”

“There’ll be no room in Iraq for the Christian infidels from now on,” the letter continues, threatening that those who remain will have their throats slit as “it is happening to the Christians of Mosul.” This is more than likely a reference to a recent attack on two sisters who were killed by Muslim extremists.

Iraqi Christians have faced severe persecutions in recent years, with some being forced to pay the “jizya” or protection money and some women being made to wear a headscarf, which is known as the hijab. The Christian community has also suffered forced conversion to Islam, rapes, murders and the destruction of homes.