Baghdad must act or a 2000-year old religious community is doomed to extinction

Following the death of two young Mandaeans last Sunday in Basra in southern Iraq the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) raised the alarm: "If the Iraqi government does not now act quickly and protect the last Mandaeans in Iraq from acts of violence the end of this more than 2000-year old small religious community is quite clear”, warned the GfbV Near-east consultant, Kamal Sido, on Wednesday in Göttingen. At least 25,000 of the former 30,000 Mandaeans in Iraq have now fled from the continuing terror against their ethnic group.

The GfbV appeals urgently to the German Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, to offer the Mandaeans, whose existence is threatened. Some 1,200 Mandaeans have been living in Germany. Their religious community, which dates back to John the Baptist, numbers at the most 60,000.

"The two 25-year old Mandaean jewellers, Farqad Faiq Osman Alchamisi and Muhannad Qassem Gharib Alkahili, were attacked and shot by an armed gang of four men”, reported a GfbV worker by telephone from Iraq. "Their shops were ransacked. The criminals fled in a car.” Eye-witnesses asked soldiers in an army vehicle for help, but, as the "Mandaean Program”, the self-help organisation of the Mandaeans and partner of the GfbV states, this request was turned down. The reason given for their refusal was that this was the task of the police.

Then, as though they had not been caused enough pain, the families of the two victims were insulted by the security authorities in that autopsies were carried out, reported the Mandaean Program. This constitutes a serious infringement of the religious customs of the Mandaeans, being also incomprehensible since the cause of death was clear from the outset.

The GfbV has been documenting the attacks on Mandaeans in Iraq and their continuing exodus since 2003.

The STP Middle East consultant, Dr. Kamal Sido, is available to answer questions arising at nahost@gfbv.de. He will be glad to provide contact with our colleague in Baghdad. He speaks English.