Killings sow fear among Christians in southern Iraq

Reuters ^ | 12/30/03 | Reuters

[freedom44]

BASRA, Iraq, Dec 30 (Reuters) Bashir Toma Elias was killed by a single shot to the head in the middle of Basra's bazaar on Christmas Eve as he prepared to head home to celebrate with his wife and five children.

The killing of the Iraqi Christian alcohol merchant sowed fresh fear in a community afraid of increasing religious intolerance in mainly Shi'ite Muslim southern Iraq.

His widow Jihan cried hysterically outside the Chaldean Church in the affluent Manawi Pasha neighbourhood after Christmas Mass, held in the morning because the lack of security prevented holding a midnight service.

''We buried Bashir and our priests are celebrating while we are being slaughtered,'' said 40-year-old Jihan. ''Where is the peace they preach?'' Bashir, 48, was the latest liquor store trader fatally shot in the country's second largest city since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April. Residents say the killer escaped as passers-by looked on, in a city still plagued by crime and mob rule despite the British military presence.

Since the war that toppled Saddam, armed groups have looted and set ablaze several liquor stores in the once freewheeling city, where Shi'ite religious parties now wield power and seek to impose strict moral regulations, similar to Iran.

More than 400 liquor stores run by Christians, the only community allowed to sell alcohol under the former Baathist government, were forced to close in the immediate aftermath of the US led occupation of Iraq.

Basra was once a cosmopolitan trading centre and playground for rich Kuwaitis and Saudis who flocked to its casinos and nightclubs in the midst of an austere region where alcohol was banned.

''Alcohol selling has changed from Christians to Muslims. Now it's Muslims who sell after taking the trade from us,'' said an embittered Joseph Hanna, a Christian property developer and hotel owner who blames militant Shi'ite groups for the killings.

''We fear for our lives and our interests from the extremist Shi'ites who are targeting us as Christians,'' said Misak Victor, another liquor merchant.

[McGavin999]

They are going to have to trace down these people. I think perhaps the people of southern Iraq need to talk to the Iranian people about what it's like to live under the mullahs.