Date: Friday 21 July 2006
Subj: Afghanistan: The return of the religious police.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
When Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, strict conservative Islamic practice and values were enforced by the religious police of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. This force, famous for beating women, destroying art and turning executions into spectator sport, was disbanded after the Taliban was ousted in 2001. Now however this department is being reinstated by President Hamid Karzai's government.
WAR FOR AFGHANISTAN BEING FOUGHT ON TWO FRONTS
There are two battles raging in Afghanistan: the battle between the US and allied forces against a resurgent Taliban; and the battle between Afghanistan's hard-line Islamist conservatives and reformist West-leaning moderates. Taliban military advances, Afghan (mostly Taliban) deaths at the hands of "infidel" forces, and Taliban propaganda against the "apostate government" of "US-puppet" President Hamid Karzai, are all playing into the hands of the hard-line Islamist conservative forces.
The reality is that the government is only one of many power groups in the nation. The government does not control anything much outside Kabul. The countryside is politically fragmented and controlled by warlords who fight either with the Taliban or against them according to their own interests at any time. American military might is not the primary weapon against the Taliban. America has only about one-tenth of the troop numbers that the Soviets did when they failed to pacify the mujahideen. Rather it has been America's ability to manipulate and buy the co-operation and allegiance of the warlords.
But, as Stratfor Intelligence comments: "As Taliban power increases, the willingness of regional warlords to collaborate with the government and the United States decreases. No one wants to be caught on the wrong side of a war in that country." (Stratfor 19 May)
Reflecting the political difficulty caused by Afghan deaths, Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently called on the international community to re-evaluate its strategy regarding the war on terrorism, saying the death of hundreds of Afghans in fighting with coalition troops is "not acceptable". According to Stratfor Intelligence Karzai told a news conference in Kabul, "I strongly believe ... we must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation." This, while both logical and strategic, would also shift the focus of the war on terror to Pakistan. Karzai added that even if the approximately 600 people killed in Afghanistan over the past month are Taliban, "they are sons of this land". (Stratfor 23 June)
TALIBANISATION
In a clear sign that Afghanistan's reformist moderates are drastically lacking support and struggling for political survival, President Karzai's Cabinet has approved a proposal from the government-appointed council of Muslim clerics to reinstate the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The Pak Tribune (Pakistan News Service) notes: "Although crackdowns on forms of expression deemed un-Islamic have generally come from the courts, and although conservative Islamists are currently the main block in Parliament, this initiative came from the President's recently approved Cabinet." The decision was clearly made for short-term political gain but the long-term implications for Afghanistan are deeply worrying.
Tom Coghlan reports from Kabul for The Independent: "The Afghan government has alarmed human rights groups by approving a plan to reintroduce a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the body which the Taliban used to enforce its extreme religious doctrine.
"The proposal, which came from the country's Ulema council of clerics, has been passed by the cabinet of President Hamid Karzai and will now go before the Afghan parliament." (Link 1)
Coghlan quotes the Minister for Haj and Religious Affairs, Nematullah Shahrani, who says, "The job of the department will be to tell people what is allowable and what is forbidden in Islam. In practical terms it will be quite different from Taliban times. We will preach ... through radio, television and special gatherings."
According to Coglan, Shahrani denied that the department would have police powers but said it would oppose the proliferation of alcohol and drugs and speak out against terrorism, crime and corruption, adding that it would also encourage people to behave in more Islamic
ays.
Likewise, the Deputy Minister for Haj and Religious Affairs Ghazi Suleiman Hamed assured Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Radio Free Afghanistan that the new department will be quite different from the one run by the Taliban. He said there would be no violent punishment, only education, preaching, and encouragement to help move people towards God. (Link 2)
The assurances of moderation provide little comfort to multitudes of Afghan citizens who have traumatic memories of Taliban repression and violence. Likewise, analysts and human rights groups have expressed great concern that the new Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice could become a force of political and religious oppression in the guise of protecting Islamic values. The crimes the department will allegedly focus on, such as alcohol and prostitution, are already covered under criminal law. There is also drastic shortage of safeguards, and the definition of virtue is vague and open to interpretation.
Coglan reports that while Western diplomats have reacted with unease to the proposal, several told The Independent that they believed the move was partly designed to defuse Taliban propaganda which accuses the Karzai government of being un-Islamic.
Coglan writes, "With the Taliban making considerable gains in the south the Karzai government has been keen to establish a more conservative Islamic profile and to appear more critical of Western military operations."
Legislator Shukria Barekzai told RFE/RL that it was not clear when the parliament would debate and consider the proposal. However, she believes there is no need for such a department unless it commits to fighting bureaucratic corruption. Likewise MP Ahmad Behzad told AFP that he believed there was no need for such a department. "This decision was made under extreme pressure from religious groups — a return to Taleban rule is impossible but some circles are trying to lead Afghanistan towards Talebanisation. To preach virtue is cultural work — through the media, papers and other means." According to the AFP the Taliban are waging a growing insurgency "with a sophisticated propaganda campaign that includes condemning the government's foreign allies as anti-Islamic 'infidels' who are undermining the country's morality". (Link 3)
Mohamed Asif Nang, the spokesman for parliamentary affairs, told Reuters he did not know when parliament would debate the proposal, but if parliament decided to set the force up again, it would also determine its duties. (Reuters 16 July 2006)
The Afghan Parliament reconvenes at the end of July.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Fury as Karzai plans return of Taliban's religious police
By Tom Coghlan in Kabul, 17 July 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1181612.ece
2) Afghanistan: Proposal To Create Morality Department Causes Concern
PRAGUE, 18 July 2006 (RFE/RL)
http://www.azadiradio.org/en/news/2006/07/12E5F422-DFD8-42FC-A25D-5984C96EC3B2.ASP
3) Alarm over govt's move to set up Taleban-like 'vice squad'
AFP 19 July 2006
Friday, July 21, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Malaysia bans more books deemed prejudicial to public order.
Date: Thursday 13 July 2006
Subj: Malaysia bans more books deemed prejudicial to public order.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Once again, Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry has used the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 to ban books on religion. The banned titles are books that critique Islam and books that assist in Christian witness to Muslims. Many are international best sellers and have been in circulation, including in Malaysia, for many years. They are banned on the grounds that the Internal Security Ministry has deemed them prejudicial to public order. In reality however, the only members of the public likely to be provoked by these books are apostaphobic Islamists who rely on repression because they are threatened by public debate and public access to alternatives. That the government should pander to this element in this way is very disturbing.
--------------------------------------------
In early April 2003 the Malaysian Home Ministry (KDN) banned 35 books that they considered detrimental to public peace. Twelve of these were Christian books, eleven of which were in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. The twelfth was a translation of the Bible in Iban, the language of the Iban people of Sarawak. Amongst the banned titles were translated works by J I Packer and John R W Stott. After much prayer and advocacy, and a meeting between Malaysian Christian leaders and Acting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the ban on the Iban-language Bible was lifted.
Then in April 2005 the Malaysian government banned eleven more titles dealing with religious topics on the grounds that they were "detrimental to public order". The books included: "Great Religions of the World" (published by National Geographic and in circulation for more than 30 years), "The Word of Islam" Edited by John Alden Williams, "A History of God" and "Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet" both by Karen Armstrong, "The Cross and the Crescent" by Phil Parshall, and "Women and Islam" by Fatima Mernissi (a Moroccan feminist). (For full list see Link 1)
Malaysia's Democratic Alliance Party called for an explanation, saying "Simply stating that the publications are detrimental to public order without justifying how they are so is plainly unacceptable. The decision of the Ministry to ban the books concerned is clearly retrogressive and does not square with the government's aspiration of creating a knowledge based society, especially in the present information technology era where people should have the fundamental freedom of access to information; not only information which the governing authorities deem appropriate." (Link 2)
In early June 2006, a further eighteen books on religious topics were banned on the grounds that they could disrupt public peace and harmony. Under the Printing Presses and Publications Act, all forms of reproduction or distribution of these books are thereby banned. Six of the titles are in Malay language and the rest are in English.
The newly banned titles include: "Lifting the Veil" by Trudie Crawford, "A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism" by Bobby S Sayyid, "Islam Revealed - A Christian Arab's View of Islam" by Dr Anis A Shorrosh, "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam" by John L Esposito, "Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim" by Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, "The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam" by Karen Armstrong, and "Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims" by Christine Mallouhi. Amongst the Malaysian language titles are two works by critic Kassim Ahmad, whose book, "Hadith: A Re-evaluation", challenges the infallibility of the Hadith, the purported words of Muhammad. (For full list see Link 3)
"THE SPACE FOR DISCOURSE IS NARROWING"
On 4 July the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) reported, "The Kuala Lumpur-based women's rights group Sisters-in-Islam is protesting the ministry's decision. 'We are particularly concerned over the increasing number of books on Islam and religion that are being banned,' the group said in an appeal to be sent to the ministry. 'The space for discourse is narrowing and Malaysian readers are being deprived of ideas and debates by renowned scholars and writers, published by reputable institutions such as the Oxford University Press.'
"Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is walking a tightrope between ensuring open discussions about liberalism and pluralism in Islam, and maintaining a strong political base among Muslim conservatives." (Link 4)
While PM Badawi is walking his tightrope, he is being pulled to each side by opposing forces. In reality, he needs to choose which side to jump into before he and his coalition are torn apart.
ARTICLE 19 (http://www.article19.org), an international human rights organisation which defends and promotes freedom of expression and freedom of information all over the world (the name comes from Article 19 of the UDHR) has strongly condemned the Malaysian government over the book bans.
In its 10 July press release ARTICLE 19 stated, "Any restriction on freedom of expression must be the least restrictive means possible to protect a legitimate interest, and must be carefully tailored to effectively protect that interest." ARTICLE 19 maintains that the bans violate international standards governing the right to freedom of expression. However, ARTICLE 19 also notes, "Malaysia is one of the few countries around the world which has not signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which under Article 19 guarantees freedom of expression and access to information." (Link 5)
New Straits Times columnist Syed Nadzri lamented the ban on books and strict regulation of local television, saying it is antithetical to the whole notion of "openness and transparency" as is often bandied about by the Abdullah administration. (Link 6)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Banning Books. 12 May 2005
http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/2005/05/banning-books.html
(This page has links to the banned English titles.)
2) The Internal Security Minister should review and lift the ban on
11 foreign language publications. DAP press release April 2005
http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/bul/apr05/bul2679.htm (2005)
3) Ministry Bans 18 Books.15 June 2006
http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=203457
http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-banned-books.html
(This page contains links to the banned English titles.)
4) Government bans 18 books on Islam. 4 July 2006
http://www.seapabkk.org/newdesign/newsdetail.php?No=489
5) ARTICLE 19 condemns authorities' banning of 18 books for
disrupting peace and harmony. IFEX 11 July 2006
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/75609/
(original press release from Article 19:
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/malaysia-18-books-banned.pdf)
6) Burning concern for democracy and press freedom
4 July 2006. http://www.aliran.com/content/view/86/22/
Subj: Malaysia bans more books deemed prejudicial to public order.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Once again, Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry has used the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 to ban books on religion. The banned titles are books that critique Islam and books that assist in Christian witness to Muslims. Many are international best sellers and have been in circulation, including in Malaysia, for many years. They are banned on the grounds that the Internal Security Ministry has deemed them prejudicial to public order. In reality however, the only members of the public likely to be provoked by these books are apostaphobic Islamists who rely on repression because they are threatened by public debate and public access to alternatives. That the government should pander to this element in this way is very disturbing.
--------------------------------------------
In early April 2003 the Malaysian Home Ministry (KDN) banned 35 books that they considered detrimental to public peace. Twelve of these were Christian books, eleven of which were in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. The twelfth was a translation of the Bible in Iban, the language of the Iban people of Sarawak. Amongst the banned titles were translated works by J I Packer and John R W Stott. After much prayer and advocacy, and a meeting between Malaysian Christian leaders and Acting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the ban on the Iban-language Bible was lifted.
Then in April 2005 the Malaysian government banned eleven more titles dealing with religious topics on the grounds that they were "detrimental to public order". The books included: "Great Religions of the World" (published by National Geographic and in circulation for more than 30 years), "The Word of Islam" Edited by John Alden Williams, "A History of God" and "Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet" both by Karen Armstrong, "The Cross and the Crescent" by Phil Parshall, and "Women and Islam" by Fatima Mernissi (a Moroccan feminist). (For full list see Link 1)
Malaysia's Democratic Alliance Party called for an explanation, saying "Simply stating that the publications are detrimental to public order without justifying how they are so is plainly unacceptable. The decision of the Ministry to ban the books concerned is clearly retrogressive and does not square with the government's aspiration of creating a knowledge based society, especially in the present information technology era where people should have the fundamental freedom of access to information; not only information which the governing authorities deem appropriate." (Link 2)
In early June 2006, a further eighteen books on religious topics were banned on the grounds that they could disrupt public peace and harmony. Under the Printing Presses and Publications Act, all forms of reproduction or distribution of these books are thereby banned. Six of the titles are in Malay language and the rest are in English.
The newly banned titles include: "Lifting the Veil" by Trudie Crawford, "A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism" by Bobby S Sayyid, "Islam Revealed - A Christian Arab's View of Islam" by Dr Anis A Shorrosh, "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam" by John L Esposito, "Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim" by Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, "The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam" by Karen Armstrong, and "Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims" by Christine Mallouhi. Amongst the Malaysian language titles are two works by critic Kassim Ahmad, whose book, "Hadith: A Re-evaluation", challenges the infallibility of the Hadith, the purported words of Muhammad. (For full list see Link 3)
"THE SPACE FOR DISCOURSE IS NARROWING"
On 4 July the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) reported, "The Kuala Lumpur-based women's rights group Sisters-in-Islam is protesting the ministry's decision. 'We are particularly concerned over the increasing number of books on Islam and religion that are being banned,' the group said in an appeal to be sent to the ministry. 'The space for discourse is narrowing and Malaysian readers are being deprived of ideas and debates by renowned scholars and writers, published by reputable institutions such as the Oxford University Press.'
"Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is walking a tightrope between ensuring open discussions about liberalism and pluralism in Islam, and maintaining a strong political base among Muslim conservatives." (Link 4)
While PM Badawi is walking his tightrope, he is being pulled to each side by opposing forces. In reality, he needs to choose which side to jump into before he and his coalition are torn apart.
ARTICLE 19 (http://www.article19.org), an international human rights organisation which defends and promotes freedom of expression and freedom of information all over the world (the name comes from Article 19 of the UDHR) has strongly condemned the Malaysian government over the book bans.
In its 10 July press release ARTICLE 19 stated, "Any restriction on freedom of expression must be the least restrictive means possible to protect a legitimate interest, and must be carefully tailored to effectively protect that interest." ARTICLE 19 maintains that the bans violate international standards governing the right to freedom of expression. However, ARTICLE 19 also notes, "Malaysia is one of the few countries around the world which has not signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which under Article 19 guarantees freedom of expression and access to information." (Link 5)
New Straits Times columnist Syed Nadzri lamented the ban on books and strict regulation of local television, saying it is antithetical to the whole notion of "openness and transparency" as is often bandied about by the Abdullah administration. (Link 6)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Banning Books. 12 May 2005
http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/2005/05/banning-books.html
(This page has links to the banned English titles.)
2) The Internal Security Minister should review and lift the ban on
11 foreign language publications. DAP press release April 2005
http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/bul/apr05/bul2679.htm (2005)
3) Ministry Bans 18 Books.15 June 2006
http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=203457
http://thebookaholic.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-banned-books.html
(This page contains links to the banned English titles.)
4) Government bans 18 books on Islam. 4 July 2006
http://www.seapabkk.org/newdesign/newsdetail.php?No=489
5) ARTICLE 19 condemns authorities' banning of 18 books for
disrupting peace and harmony. IFEX 11 July 2006
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/75609/
(original press release from Article 19:
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/malaysia-18-books-banned.pdf)
6) Burning concern for democracy and press freedom
4 July 2006. http://www.aliran.com/content/view/86/22/
Friday, June 30, 2006
Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
Date: Friday 30 June 2006
Subj: Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------
IRAQI'S MANDAEANS FACE GENOCIDE
- ALL OTHER RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AT RISK
----------------------------------------
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) has published a report entitled "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened" (March 2006). (Link 2)
This German-based organisation documents the same sorts of abuses that have been documented by the Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia (SMAA) and used in previous WEA RLC postings on Iraq. Abuses include forced conversions, kidnappings, rapes, forced marriages, tortures and killings (often highly barbaric) of innocent Mandaean civilians including women and children.
Since the overthrow of the Hussein regime the situation for Mandaeans in Iraq has become untenable as violence against them has increased markedly. Because Mandaeans, are labeled "unclean" and not even afforded "protected" dhimmi status, they may be publicly persecuted or killed with impunity. In fact the killer may even have a sense of justification, as if he has performed a noble and principled act of cleansing. On top of this, Mandaeans are pacifists and therefore defenseless. They are generally well educated and highly skilled. Altogether this makes them choice, prime, easy targets for greedy criminals as well as for bigoted Islamists.
The Society for Threatened Peoples is also documenting the flight of Mandaean refugees. They estimate that around 1,000 Iraqi Mandaean families had fled to Syria or Jordan by January 2006. In September 2005, the BBC estimated that a mere 13,000 Mandaeans (about one third of the pre-war population) remained inside Iraq.
In May the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. Pages 9 – 12 are devoted to the human rights situation in Iraq, and make it very clear that "The future of religious minorities hangs in the balance".
Here are some excerpts from that four-page segment entitled: "IRAQ: Human Rights in Jeopardy". (Link 3)
"Minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security. The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years. The UN has reported on 'an explosion of Islamist extremist movements and militias which target, among others, members of religious minorities,' concluding that religious minorities 'have become the regular victims of discrimination, harassment, and at times persecution, with incidents ranging from intimidation and threats to the destruction of property, kidnapping and murder,' and that 'members of the Christian minority. . .appear to be particularly targeted.' As discussed below, this violence is also directed against women, including non-Muslim women, who are deemed as not complying with Islamic strictures, which are being imposed unlawfully.
"Sabean Mandaean organizations continue to report that extremist Islamic elements are targeting individual members of the Iraqi Sabean community, solely on the basis of their religious belief. In a number of instances, attackers reportedly attempted to forcibly convert their victims before murdering them, sometimes going so far as to leave the victims' valuables behind to underscore the religious motivation for their acts. Other violence directed against the Sabean community reportedly included kidnapping, rape, immolation, and the gouging of eyes.
"According to the Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples, 17,000 of the 30,000 Mandaeans have already fled Iraq in the wake of this violence. According to sources cited by the UN, Iraqi religious leaders issued several fatwas during the past year which 'have provided Islamic fundamentalists with the religious justification for acts carried out against the Mandaeans, and have accentuated the level of fear among the Mandaean community'."
ULTIMATUM: CONVERT, LEAVE OR DIE.
Today, Iraqi Mandaeans are being given an ultimatum – to convert to Islam or leave Iraq. The only other option is death.
Here are translations of two letters received recently by Mandaeans in Iraq. The translations are taken from the Appendix of the report by the Society for Threatened Peoples.
-----------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Layth Shaker
[excerpt of translated letter]
In the name of God
Warning Warning
To the citizen Layth Shaker, you are going astray and you have to come back to God and his prophet. This is a warning to you and your family, the fighter's brothers will be satisfied if you transfer from Al-Ramady with your family. You have time limit for three days only and after that you will be punished because the settlement is started and this is a last opportunity to you and you are under control by the Al-Jehadia group. . .
-----------------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Mahmoud Shaker
[full text of translated letter]
In the name of Allah
'If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).'
'O, ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.'
To the magus, the infidel, the Sabi the goldsmith Shaker M & his sons, we warn you and your sons that you must abandon the religion of the infidel and the atheist and to convert to Islam. Your sons must join the Al-Jehad group to fight against the occupiers and the army of the infidel. By the way your sons who ever is Mahmoud Shaker and his brother Moneer Shaker are an agent soldiers in the army of what called the national guard and you drink wine, you are dirty, cursed infidel and low. You have only two choices, either convert to Islam or to leave the country of Islam.
He who was warns is excused
The national Islamic resistance
Kataeeb Thwart Al-Eshreen
Information Office.
----------------------------------------
DESPERATE NEED FOR ASYLUM
On 23 June 06, the SMAA reported that in the previous week, ten Mandaeans had been mutilated and killed in Basra, and that all the other Mandaeans still living in Basra had received "warning" notices ordering them to leave Iraq or be likewise killed. The letters reported to the SMAA follow the same line as the "warning" notice to Mahmoud Shaker (above), and falsely accuse the Mandaeans of being drunkards, gamblers, idolaters, prostitutes and practitioners of black magic.
The Mandaeans of Basra have even been informed that they no longer have the option of converting to Islam. They are fleeing for their lives, and those who cannot flee are living in terror of their lives. All the Mandaean clergy have fled.
But where will Iraq's Mandaeans find refuge?
When Iraq's Jewish population was faced with the same choice - leave or die - the newly created state of Israel came to the rescue. Iraqi Jews accounted for one third of Baghdad's population at the time of World War One and most were highly educated, skilled professionals. Persecution of Jews (and Christians) escalated after the British mandate ended in 1932. The Christian Assyrians suffered a catastrophic massacre in 1933. Then in October 1939, the arrival in Iraq of the pro-Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem (a personal ally to Hitler) heralded the beginning of the end of a 2,500 year history of Jews in Iraq. After years of inciting anti-Semitic violence all over Palestine and the Middle East, Haj Amin El Husseini incited anti-Jewish pogroms and massacres in Iraq with a view to genocide. There were still up to 150,000 Jews in Iraq in July 1948 when "Zionism" was made a criminal (in some cases capital) offense, with only two Muslims required to denounce one Jew. By 1951 more than 100,000 Iraqi Jews had been evacuated empty-handed, rescued by Israel's Operation Ezra & Nehemiah to be absorbed in Israel as refugees. A remnant of 34 mostly elderly Iraqi Jews were found in Iraq in 2004. (Link 4)
There is no rescue in sight for Iraqi's immediately threatened Mandaeans. Due to the enormous numbers of refugees flooding into Syria and Jordan, Syrian and Jordanian tolerance is beginning to run out. Also, many Mandaean asylum seekers are not finding refuge in the West as political forces, motivated by trade deals as well as political and diplomatic considerations, are increasingly interfering with refugee tribunal decisions.
Below are two resources from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to further assist with asylum claims of Iraqi Mandaeans, Christians and other religious minorities.
Background Information on the Situation of Non-Muslim Religious Minorities in Iraq. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4371cf5b4
Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4354e3594
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm
2) The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) http://www.gfbv.de "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened." March 2006. (direct link to English version: http://www.gfbv.de/inhaltsDok.php?id=694 )
3) United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. http://www.uscirf.gov/
4) Iraq's Jews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3107219.stm ALSO http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iraqijews.html
Subj: Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------
IRAQI'S MANDAEANS FACE GENOCIDE
- ALL OTHER RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AT RISK
----------------------------------------
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- (a) Killing members of the group;
- (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (Link 1)
The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) has published a report entitled "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened" (March 2006). (Link 2)
This German-based organisation documents the same sorts of abuses that have been documented by the Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia (SMAA) and used in previous WEA RLC postings on Iraq. Abuses include forced conversions, kidnappings, rapes, forced marriages, tortures and killings (often highly barbaric) of innocent Mandaean civilians including women and children.
Since the overthrow of the Hussein regime the situation for Mandaeans in Iraq has become untenable as violence against them has increased markedly. Because Mandaeans, are labeled "unclean" and not even afforded "protected" dhimmi status, they may be publicly persecuted or killed with impunity. In fact the killer may even have a sense of justification, as if he has performed a noble and principled act of cleansing. On top of this, Mandaeans are pacifists and therefore defenseless. They are generally well educated and highly skilled. Altogether this makes them choice, prime, easy targets for greedy criminals as well as for bigoted Islamists.
The Society for Threatened Peoples is also documenting the flight of Mandaean refugees. They estimate that around 1,000 Iraqi Mandaean families had fled to Syria or Jordan by January 2006. In September 2005, the BBC estimated that a mere 13,000 Mandaeans (about one third of the pre-war population) remained inside Iraq.
In May the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. Pages 9 – 12 are devoted to the human rights situation in Iraq, and make it very clear that "The future of religious minorities hangs in the balance".
Here are some excerpts from that four-page segment entitled: "IRAQ: Human Rights in Jeopardy". (Link 3)
"Minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security. The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years. The UN has reported on 'an explosion of Islamist extremist movements and militias which target, among others, members of religious minorities,' concluding that religious minorities 'have become the regular victims of discrimination, harassment, and at times persecution, with incidents ranging from intimidation and threats to the destruction of property, kidnapping and murder,' and that 'members of the Christian minority. . .appear to be particularly targeted.' As discussed below, this violence is also directed against women, including non-Muslim women, who are deemed as not complying with Islamic strictures, which are being imposed unlawfully.
"Sabean Mandaean organizations continue to report that extremist Islamic elements are targeting individual members of the Iraqi Sabean community, solely on the basis of their religious belief. In a number of instances, attackers reportedly attempted to forcibly convert their victims before murdering them, sometimes going so far as to leave the victims' valuables behind to underscore the religious motivation for their acts. Other violence directed against the Sabean community reportedly included kidnapping, rape, immolation, and the gouging of eyes.
"According to the Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples, 17,000 of the 30,000 Mandaeans have already fled Iraq in the wake of this violence. According to sources cited by the UN, Iraqi religious leaders issued several fatwas during the past year which 'have provided Islamic fundamentalists with the religious justification for acts carried out against the Mandaeans, and have accentuated the level of fear among the Mandaean community'."
ULTIMATUM: CONVERT, LEAVE OR DIE.
Today, Iraqi Mandaeans are being given an ultimatum – to convert to Islam or leave Iraq. The only other option is death.
Here are translations of two letters received recently by Mandaeans in Iraq. The translations are taken from the Appendix of the report by the Society for Threatened Peoples.
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Threatening letter addressed to Layth Shaker
[excerpt of translated letter]
In the name of God
Warning Warning
To the citizen Layth Shaker, you are going astray and you have to come back to God and his prophet. This is a warning to you and your family, the fighter's brothers will be satisfied if you transfer from Al-Ramady with your family. You have time limit for three days only and after that you will be punished because the settlement is started and this is a last opportunity to you and you are under control by the Al-Jehadia group. . .
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Threatening letter addressed to Mahmoud Shaker
[full text of translated letter]
In the name of Allah
'If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).'
'O, ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.'
To the magus, the infidel, the Sabi the goldsmith Shaker M & his sons, we warn you and your sons that you must abandon the religion of the infidel and the atheist and to convert to Islam. Your sons must join the Al-Jehad group to fight against the occupiers and the army of the infidel. By the way your sons who ever is Mahmoud Shaker and his brother Moneer Shaker are an agent soldiers in the army of what called the national guard and you drink wine, you are dirty, cursed infidel and low. You have only two choices, either convert to Islam or to leave the country of Islam.
He who was warns is excused
The national Islamic resistance
Kataeeb Thwart Al-Eshreen
Information Office.
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DESPERATE NEED FOR ASYLUM
On 23 June 06, the SMAA reported that in the previous week, ten Mandaeans had been mutilated and killed in Basra, and that all the other Mandaeans still living in Basra had received "warning" notices ordering them to leave Iraq or be likewise killed. The letters reported to the SMAA follow the same line as the "warning" notice to Mahmoud Shaker (above), and falsely accuse the Mandaeans of being drunkards, gamblers, idolaters, prostitutes and practitioners of black magic.
The Mandaeans of Basra have even been informed that they no longer have the option of converting to Islam. They are fleeing for their lives, and those who cannot flee are living in terror of their lives. All the Mandaean clergy have fled.
But where will Iraq's Mandaeans find refuge?
When Iraq's Jewish population was faced with the same choice - leave or die - the newly created state of Israel came to the rescue. Iraqi Jews accounted for one third of Baghdad's population at the time of World War One and most were highly educated, skilled professionals. Persecution of Jews (and Christians) escalated after the British mandate ended in 1932. The Christian Assyrians suffered a catastrophic massacre in 1933. Then in October 1939, the arrival in Iraq of the pro-Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem (a personal ally to Hitler) heralded the beginning of the end of a 2,500 year history of Jews in Iraq. After years of inciting anti-Semitic violence all over Palestine and the Middle East, Haj Amin El Husseini incited anti-Jewish pogroms and massacres in Iraq with a view to genocide. There were still up to 150,000 Jews in Iraq in July 1948 when "Zionism" was made a criminal (in some cases capital) offense, with only two Muslims required to denounce one Jew. By 1951 more than 100,000 Iraqi Jews had been evacuated empty-handed, rescued by Israel's Operation Ezra & Nehemiah to be absorbed in Israel as refugees. A remnant of 34 mostly elderly Iraqi Jews were found in Iraq in 2004. (Link 4)
There is no rescue in sight for Iraqi's immediately threatened Mandaeans. Due to the enormous numbers of refugees flooding into Syria and Jordan, Syrian and Jordanian tolerance is beginning to run out. Also, many Mandaean asylum seekers are not finding refuge in the West as political forces, motivated by trade deals as well as political and diplomatic considerations, are increasingly interfering with refugee tribunal decisions.
Below are two resources from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to further assist with asylum claims of Iraqi Mandaeans, Christians and other religious minorities.
Background Information on the Situation of Non-Muslim Religious Minorities in Iraq. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4371cf5b4
Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4354e3594
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm
2) The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) http://www.gfbv.de "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened." March 2006. (direct link to English version: http://www.gfbv.de/inhaltsDok.php?id=694 )
3) United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. http://www.uscirf.gov/
4) Iraq's Jews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3107219.stm ALSO http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iraqijews.html