UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
have found refuge with the Sabaean-Mandaean community in Nassriyah in the Governorate<br />
of Thi-Qar.<br />
iii) Current Situation<br />
Since 2003, there have been a number of targeted attacks on Sabaean-Mandaean places of<br />
worship (mandi), 324 religious figures, including their family members and other individuals.<br />
Most attacks have been reported in Baghdad, Falluja, Al-Suwaira (Wassit Governorate),<br />
Basrah, Qalat Saleh (Missan Governorate) and Diyala.<br />
There have been successive attacks on the mandi in Basrah. The first attack was carried out<br />
on 28 June 2006 and followed by further attacks on 2 and 22 September 2006. In a letter<br />
dated 10 July 2006, Vice-President Tariq Al-Hashimi condemned what he called<br />
a “criminal act” and expressed his sympathy with the Sabaean-Mandaean community. 325<br />
UNHCR also received reports that mandi in Baqouba and Qalat Saleh were occupied by<br />
armed groups. 326 UNHCR has no evidence that these attacks were investigated by the<br />
police.<br />
It has become evident that clerics of all levels are at risk of kidnapping, killing and<br />
assaults. 327 Attacks on individuals include harassment and intimidation, killings (often with<br />
extreme violence), 328 kidnappings, 329 armed robbery, confiscation of property, forced<br />
conversion to Islam as well as rape and forced marriages of Sabaean-Mandaean women<br />
with Muslim men, often with a sectarian motive. 330 UNAMI HRO reported that in October<br />
2006, four Sabaean-Mandaeans were killed. 331 Sabean-Mandeans also complain of being<br />
324 A mandi (pl. mandia) is a small open-ended building with a pool connected to a nearby river for baptism.<br />
A mandi bears a cross and therefore resembles a Christian church. However, the Sabaean-Mandaean cross is<br />
half-covered with a piece of cloth and has a different symbolic meaning than the Christian cross; see Mite,<br />
Iraq: Old Sabaean-Mandean Community Is Proud of Its Ancient Faith, see above footnote 288; Tod<br />
Robberson, Iraq’s Baptist Mandaeans are survivors, but ranks are thinning, The Dallas Morning News,<br />
23 February 2004, http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=6595&sec=41&con=34.<br />
325 Copy of original letter obtained by UNHCR Iraq.<br />
326 Information received from Sabaean-Mandaean sources.<br />
327 See “Annex II: Attacks on Sabaean-Mandaean Representatives” for a (non-comprehensive) overview.<br />
Family members of religious leaders are also at risk of threats, killing, kidnapping, forced marriage /<br />
conversion and rape; see Society for Threatened People which documented numerous assaults on family<br />
members of Ganzebra Sattar Jabbar Helou, including his cousins, nephews, nieces and siblings; Society for<br />
Threatened People, Mandäer im Iraq, p. 19-20, see above footnote 309.<br />
328 The Society for Threatened People recorded 59 cases of killings by October 2006; see Society for<br />
Threatened People, Mandäer im Iraq, see above footnote 309; The Mandaean Human Rights Group listed<br />
54 cases of killings between 2003 and November 2005; see Mandaean Human Rights Group, Appendix 1, see<br />
above footnote 288. Most of the reported killings listed took place in Baghdad, with others reported from<br />
Ramadi, Baqouba, Missan, Al-Suwaira, Basrah and Nassriyah.<br />
329 See the list of incidents involving kidnapping and physical attacks provided by the Mandaean Human<br />
Rights Group, Appendix 1, see above footnote 288.<br />
330 USDOS, International Religious Freedom Report 2006 – Iraq, see above footnote 28; Kendal, see above<br />
footnote 268; Society for Threatened People, Mandaeans in Iraq, p. 5, see above footnote 312; see also p. 5-7<br />
of the report for detailed incidents of attacks against Sabaean-Mandaeans (note: the German version of the<br />
report has been updated by October 2006 and includes updated incidents as compared to the English version<br />
of March 2006, see above footnote 309).<br />
331 UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 14, see above footnote 66.<br />
73