.... Khiria Al-Kas Isaac is a 54-year-old Iraqi Christian woman, whose testimony will move you to tears. I am utterly impressed by her bravery.
Islamic Jihadists just invaded her village of Qaraqosh. She expected death, as they demanded she convert to Islam or die. Khiria survived, as she consistently said: "I answered [the terrorists] immediately, I was born Christian and if that leads me to death, I prefer to die a Christian.” Quoting from Matthew 10:33, she said: "Jesus said: 'Whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven'.”
Such bravery. You can read the full interview here.
Khiria is not alone. Like Khiria, another 46 Christian women were separated from their families. None which renounced their faith. They were whipped and further beaten for 10 days as the terrorists sought their 'conversion'. "All of us were crying but refused to convert,” says Khiria who cannot sleep because of nightmares stemming from her captivity. That's firmness. That's faith. That's strength. Quite a contrast to the style of faith we live, often without persecution, or at least often without this type of persecution.
Testimonies from the refugee camps are also striking. 'They will kill us or sell us as sex slaves; we are the spoils of war,' said one of the Christian refugees, who is 5 months pregnant… "What will happen to my son?" She asked anxiously.
The harsh winter is approaching and they are still living in a tent. To make things worse, there is a reported outbreak of typhoid fever and volunteers fear a cholera epidemic.
Damien, this is an extreme situation. We must act.
Please help by calling on the European Union to provide immediate shelter to the persecuted Christians of Iraq. As a community, we cannot look away any longer.
We request, in addition to signing the petition, please also share it with your friends and family via email and social networks. The situation to Christians in Iraq is startling and appears overwhelming. We need to provide a solution. With your help, we can.
As I said in a previous e-mail, Damien, during the Italian Semester of chairmanship of the European Council, the Italian Government committed itself in defending and promoting religious freedom and in fighting violence and discrimination on religious grounds. As you may recall, it was the airplane of an Italian official that helped Meriam Ibrahim escape Sudan.
We now have the opportunity to lobby European institutions to demand concrete support for Christians in Iraq. Who will deal with the typhoid fever? Will deal with the cholera epidemic? Who will provide real shelter during the harsh winter? Who will step up and work towards providing asylum status, offering them the dignity they deserve?
My friend, Luca Volonte, the President of Novae Terrae Foundation (Italy) just announced that he will soon meet face to face with the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and leaders within the European Union. Furthermore, as soon this upcoming Monday, Luca is expected to present your petition signatures in Brussels.
In advance, we thank you for joining our efforts to ensure that Iraq Christians receive the dignity they deserve. We cannot look the other way when our brothers and sisters in Iraq are suffering.
Just another quick story. My colleague Luis Losada was recently in Mexico giving a speech about online activism and CitizenGO. He could not help but to talk about the situation in Iraq. Afterwards, a young girl came up to him with an amazing gesture. Obviously, being a young girl, she has very little. She doesn't have internet, she won't have a chance to sign this petition. She walked up to Luis and handed him her most precious and valuable item, a coin worth around $700 and said 'please make sure this goes towards Christians in Iraq.' Truly an amazing gesture.
She couldn't join our campaign via online activism -- so she gave everything. We are not asking for financial donations, just asking you donate a few minutes of your time to sign our petition and share it online. Send an email to some friend, or simply promote it on Facebook.
Luca will present your signature to MEP Brok, Chairman of the Foreign Affair Commission of the European Parliament. Currently we have 187,169 signatures. Please help us increase that number by Monday, so we can show strong support.
Warmest regards,
Gregory Mertz and the whole CitizenGO team
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