Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Iraqi Cardinal calls for release of Tariq Azziz

Mussab Al-Khairalla, Reuters | 24.12.2007 16:30 | Anti-racism | Iraq | Repression | World

Aziz is a Chaldean Christian, Iraq's biggest Christian group, and his presence in Saddam's government was often held up as evidence of the former Iraqi leader's religious tolerance




The spiritual leader of Iraq's Catholics, elevated to the rank of cardinal last month, called on U.S. forces to free Saddam Hussein's ailing former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz if there was no evidence against him.

Aziz is a Chaldean Christian, Iraq's biggest Christian group, and his presence in Saddam's government was often held up as evidence of the former Iraqi leader's religious tolerance.

In an interview with Reuters on the eve of Christmas, Emmanuel III Delly, the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, also called for religious freedom in Muslim Iraq, where many Christians have been kidnapped, killed or forced to flee.

"We have no freedom of religion in Iraq but hopefully that will become the case one day because the Lord created us free and everyone should have freedom of religion," he said.

Aziz is now in U.S. custody and is reported to be in poor health, suffering from diabetes. He is being held without charge and his family has repeatedly called for his release.

"In terms of Tareq Aziz, who has worked so long for Iraq and I am sure still wants good things for Iraq, we have to demand the release of all those who were captured and which have no evidence against them ... as soon as possible," Delly said.

Delly, a critic of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, said he had tried to visit Aziz, but his request had been turned down.

Iraqi prosecutors say Aziz could face charges in connection with the crushing of the Shi'ite Muslim uprising after the 1991 Gulf War in which tens of thousands died.

WORKING FOR PEACE

At the Nov. 25 ceremony at the Vatican creating Delly, 80, a cardinal, Pope Benedict said the Iraqi's elevation was intended to express the Catholic Church's solidarity with Christians in Iraq. In June the pontiff said he was concerned about the exodus of Christians from the troubled country.

Christians make up about 3 percent of Iraq's 27 million people, according to the U.S. State Department's latest report on international religious freedom. According to a 1987 census there were 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq, but now there may be fewer than 1 million.

A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed in Iraq, churches bombed or forced to take down their crosses and Christians forced to flee their homes.

At his guarded compound in western Baghdad, Delly, wearing his cardinal's red robes and a black hat, preached brotherly love in a land where sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims has killed tens of thousands.

"Love between all brothers is present, but they must love each other more and more, they need to work together in one mind and one heart for the prosperity of Iraq," he said, sitting next to a colourfully decorated Christmas tree.

Delly said all Iraqis had suffered equally in the sectarian violence that has ravaged the country, toning down previous criticism of Iraq's Shi'ite Islamist leaders, whom he accused in May of staying silent while Christians were persecuted.

"There are absolutely no violations against Christians because they are Christians. This is something that is against Iraq and Iraqis. There are many Christians who were forced to flee Iraq but an even greater number of our Muslim brothers too."

He said five Christian churches in the southern Baghdad district of Doura, a Sunni militant stronghold, were still closed. Christians there were told to convert, flee or be killed, the U.S. State Department report said.

"God willing, (the Christians) will return," Delly said.


Mussab Al-Khairalla, Reuters
- Homepage: http://www.iraqsolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech