UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

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