Baghdad, Iraq, Apr 18, 2007 / 09:45 am
Officials from the district of Dhora in Baghdad have reported that an Islamic fundamentalist group has threatened to kill Christians who do not convert to Islam.
Iraqi journalist Latif Al Saadi explained, “This is another example of the complicated situation in Iraq. It’s not the first time that the Aina movement led by Moqtada Al Sadr has adopted such a tactic, because already when Iraqi Prime Minister Al Maliki met with President Bush on February 14 of last year regarding security, Al Sadr’s group threatened to withdraw from the government.”
According to Iraqi sources, this Islamic extremist group also issued a fatwa demanding Christian women wear veils and prohibiting them from wearing any kind of cross around the neck. The fatwa also allowed the confiscation of the possessions of Christian families that have fled.
Amnesty International has called on the European Union and the United States to take “concrete and urgent measures to help Iraq, in order avoid facing a major humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.”