From the American Mesopotamian Organization, Justice in Iraq, the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, and the Seyfo Center U.S.A.: A Rally to Challenge the Obama Administration to Support and Protect Indigenous Assyrian Christians of Iraq

For the past seven years we have watched in stunned disbelief as savage Islamist extremist groups have continued to terrorize and murder Iraqi Christians. In the latest attacks, Al Qaeda-linked terrorists stormed the Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad during Mass, killing the priests in front of their parishioners, and children in front of their parents. On November 2nd the same group announced that all infidels in Iraq should be prepared to die. Enough is Enough!

WHEN: Saturday, December 4th, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Lafayette Park, Washington, DC

We, the undersigned organizations, demand that the Obama Administration immediately pressure the government of Iraq to protect its most persecuted citizens. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to even acknowledge that Iraqi Christians are being murdered specifically because of their faith and ethnic heritage. They are the descendants of the Assyrians and Babylonians, who were the first converts to Christianity outside Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D., and still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Their plight is shared by other defenseless Iraqis, including the Yazidis, Sabean Mandaeans and Shebeks.

Currently, under Article 125 of the Iraqi Constitution, Iraq’s Christians and other indigenous Iraqis have the legal right to practice their faith, and the right to establish a specific province in which they might live peacefully as citizens of Iraq. We ask the U.S. government to pressure the Iraqi government and Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to remove the obstacles and fully implement Article 125 so that Iraq’s Christians will not be terrorized to extinction.

Join us this Saturday, in Lafayette Park, Washington DC, from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., along with groups from across the nation to demand, with a loud and unified voice, that the Obama Administration must act now and pressure the government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to protect all of their citizens!

From the Institute on Religion & Democracy: IRD Urges Prayer, Advocacy for Afghani and Iraqi Christians

“Freedom and democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan must apply to our Christian brothers and sisters there.” — Faith J.H. McDonnell, IRD Religious Liberty Director

The Institute on Religion and Democracy is urging an end to persecution of Christians in Afghanistan and Iraq. The organization also encourages Washington, DC area residents to show solidarity with these beleaguered Christians at a rally sponsored by Iraqi American Christians for “Justice in Iraq” at noon, Saturday, December 4, at the White House’s Lafayette Park. The rally will call upon the respective governments to ensure that the rights and freedoms of the indigenous minorities in Iraq are honored and protected.

Two Afghani Christian converts, Said Musa (45) and Ahmad Shah (50) are in prison awaiting trial on the death penalty charge of “apostasy” from Islam. The Christian population of Iraq is under threat from Islamic jihadists following the latest atrocity, a massacre of Christians at Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church, Baghdad, on October 31, 2010.

Musa and Shah were arrested May 31 with other converts after footage of a baptismal service was viewed on national television. Witnesses report that Musa has been beaten, tortured, and sexually abused on a daily basis.

Al Qaeda-connected jihadists have told Iraq’s Christians and other “infidels” to “prepare to die.” This threat followed the attack on Baghdad Christians at Sunday mass which left 58 dead. The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac Christians trace their ancestry back 7,000 years to the ancient Mesopotamians.

IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:

“America has given billions of dollars, and, more importantly, given precious American lives, to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. But this must include freedom and democracy for our Christian brothers and sisters and other indigenous minorities, as well.

In 2006, the international community was outraged when Afghan Christian convert Abdul Rahman faced the death penalty. His life was saved because of the outcry. These Iraqi Christians, who are being hunted like animals by the Islamists, still speak Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. We must stand with them in their hour of peril.”