)FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE( New video released on Wednesday, October 7, shows ISIS
militants executing three Assyrian Christian men, believed to be among more
than 250 captives taken hostage by ISIS in February, 2015
10/08/2015
Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International
Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a new video released by the Islamic
jihadist group ISIS (also known as the Islamic State or ISIL) shows the
execution of three Assyrian Christian men, believed to be among the more than
250 Christians held by the jihadist group since February 2015.
The men
executed in the video have been identified as Dr. Abdel-Maseeh Aniyah of Tal
Jazirah (Al-Hasakah), Ashur Rustam Abraham of Tal Jazirah, and Bassam Issa
Michael from Tal Shamiram (Al-Jazirah), Leith Fadel, Editor-in-Chief of Al Mas
Dar News reported.
In a style
that has become familiar for execution videos released by ISIS, the three men
are dressed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel in front of militants
wearing camouflage and black masks. The men were killed by a pistol shot to the
head from behind.
The
executions are said to have been carried out in the Hassakeh region of Syria on
the morning of September 23, the same day that Muslims commemorated the “Feast
of the Sacrifice” (Eid al-Adha), but “It is not known why ISIS waited two weeks
to release the video,” said the Assyrian
International News Agency (AINA).
In the
latest video, ISIS calls for a ransom payment of $50,000 USD for the release of
the Assyrian Christians still being held. “Assyrian human rights organizations,
along with a few religious leaders have been begging them since the kidnapping
occurred to release them,” Nahren Anweya, an Assyrian American Christian
Activist told ICC. “They have been asking for ransoms as high as $100,000 per
hostage,” Anweya said, something that church
leaders had also confirmed in April.
“These men
were from the original group of hostages taken from Khabour,” Anweya told ICC.
The exact number of hostages taken in the February 23 raid on Assyrian villages
in the Khabour region of Syria remains unclear. Initial
reportswere that at least 90 were taken and the number has climbed to more
than 250.
In the
video, ISIS threatens to execute 280
hostages if the ransom amount is not paid. According to AINA, the number of
hostages still held is 202, accounting for 48 who have been released and the
killing of these three. A release sent to ICC by the Assyrian Monitor for Human
Rights (AMHR) stated that there were 185 still being held as hostages.
“What draws
our attention to this crime is that it is the first of its kind against the
Assyrians and Christians in Syria,” Jamil Diarbakerly, head of AMHR, told ICC.
While ISIS in Syria has posted numerous videos showing executions of
“apostates” or “spies”, this is the first video of Christians being executed.
These
executions just again demonstrate the magnitude of the atrocities going on in
Syria. Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat
al-Nusra, are targeting religious
and ethnic minorities as they attempt to solidify their control. Forces loyal
to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have also been responsible for tens of
thousands of the more than 250,000 deaths since the conflict started in 2011.
Also
participating in the fighting are members of the U.S. led Global Coalition,
along with Kurdish fighters, and now the entrance of Russian forces have made
for a complicated situation and an increase in violence as there are battles to
control territory. “Russian military intervention in Syria has to do with what
is happening,” Diabakerly said, in the aftermath of these executions.
“The only
solution to protect these ancient communities would be to place them in an
internationally protected safe haven on their ancestral lands of the Nineveh
plains [in Iraq],” Anweya said, while at the same time pressing for special
forces to intervene to release the other hostages.
Todd
Daniels, Regional Manager for the Middle East said, “Our hearts break at the
latest news of the execution of Christians in Syria. These three men have lost
their lives and dozens more may soon follow while global leaders wonder what to
do next. The very future of a Christian community in these lands is at stake. A
genocide is taking place and the world is watching these communities be erased
from the map. How many more lives must be lost before the world will act to end
this suffering?”