UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

VII. ANNEXES
The following annexes provide a non-comprehensive overview of attacks on various
specific groups in Iraq as outlined in these Guidelines. The information has been gathered
by UNHCR from public sources. While UNHCR could not independently verify all of the
reports, the information should be considered as an indicator of the level of violence that is
taking its toll on these groups in Iraq.
Annex I: Attacks on Christian Religious and Political Representatives
The following incidents were reported during the last five months of 2006:
• On 6 December 2006, it was reported that Elder Munthir, 69, a high-ranking leader of
the Presbyterian Church in Mosul, who had been kidnapped on 26 November, was
found dead. 852
• On 4 December 2006, Father Samy Al-Raiys, a Chaldean Catholic priest, Rector at the
Major Seminary of the Chaldean Patriarchate and teacher of Morality in the Faculty of
Theology at Babel College in Baghdad, was kidnapped on his way to the Church of
Mar Khorkhis (Saint George); 853 he was later released. 854
• On 28 November 2006, Father Doglas Yousef Al Bazi, Chaldean parish priest at Saint
Elias in Baghdad, was released after nine days in captivity. He had been kidnapped on
19 November 2006. 855
• On 23 November 2006, Isoh Majeed Hedaya, President of the Syriac Independent
Unified Movement (SIUM) was assassinated in Qaraqosh. He was a leading proponent
of the creation of an autonomous region for the Assyrians in the Ninewa Plain. 856
• On 11 October 2006, the decapitated body of Father Boulos Iskander Behnam was
found in Mosul. He had been kidnapped by an unidentified group that demanded
a ransom and that his church condemn a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI. 857
• On 24 September 2006, a hand-grenade was thrown at the car of the priest Izria Wurda
when leaving the orthodox Maria cathedral in the Al-Riad quarter of Baghdad. Persons
present at the service, police and passers-by hurried to the scene when a car loaded with
852 Asia News, Christian leader in Mosul kidnapped and killed, 6 December 2006, http://www.asianews.it/
index.php?l=en&art=7937&geo=23.
853 Ibidem, Another Chaldean Priest Abducted in Baghdad, 5 December 2006, http://www.aina.org/news/
2006120595730.htm.
854 UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 10, see above footnote 10.
855 Asia News, Kidnapped priest released in Baghdad, 29 November 2006, http://www.asianews.it/
index.php?l=en&art=7879&geo=23.
856 EasternStar News Agency, Assyrian Leader in Iraq Assassinated for Advocating Assyrian Autonomy,
27 November 2006, http://www.aina.org/news/20061127133032.htm; UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human
Rights Report, p. 13, see above footnote 10.
857 Al Jazeera, Iraq priest “killed over pope speech”, 13 October 2006, http://english.aljazeera.net/
news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=36747.
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