The legal battle of Iraqi Christians against abusive expropriation
Audio 02:31
A mural on a church in Baghdad in Iraq, February 21, 2021. (Photo illustration) AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP
By: Lucile Wassermann Follow
6 mins
Pope Francis is in Iraq for a historic three-day visit.
Our report therefore takes us to Baghdad to meet the Christians of Iraq.
Many fled the Iraqi capital in the years following the 2003 war. Some then discovered that their homes or land left behind had been illegally grabbed by militias, or men linked to power.
Publicity
Nabel George is an Iraqi Christian.
In a suit jacket, a pair of glasses on his nose, he receives us at his home, in Erbil, where he settled several years ago.
Or rather exiled.
Because in 2014, this father of fifty years still lived in Baghdad.
But after a year-long trip abroad for health reasons, Nabel George discovered that his house, left behind, was then occupied by armed men.
“
When I came back, I realized that my house had been sold, resold, several times like that,”
says Nabel.
I tried to contact the authorities, including the highest authorities, but nothing.
They stayed, no result.
"
The criminals, provided with false deeds of sale, then demanded 150,000 dollars from him to recover his property.
“
During this period, I filed a complaint in several police stations, in the security offices of the university where I worked in Baghdad.
Here are all copies of my complaints against this group,
”says Nabel, pointing to the documents.
After six years of legal battle, Nabel finally managed to evict the squatters from his home.
This is a rare case in this type of case which regularly ends in failure.
In Baghdad, lawyer Sofyan Hussein Ali defends these Christians in exile and dispossessed of their property.
He collaborates with the human rights organization "Hammurabi", which he is visiting today.
Together, they have denounced these abusive expropriations for years.
For this young lawyer, these cases are all the more difficult as they can be dangerous.
According to Sofyan Hussein Ali, “
for these files which affect the property of Christians, the situation is delicate.
The criminals, who take their homes, are, or pretend to be,
'well connected'
.
Sometimes it's just to intimidate Christians.
But there are threats, and so does fear.
"
For Pascale Warda, head of the organization "Hammurabi", these expropriations particularly affect minorities and are indicative of the absence of a rule of law in Iraq.
“
Christians are unarmed, don't have clan leaders behind them, don't have political parties sacrificing themselves for them, so it's easy.
"
In this country, which is one of the most corrupt in the world, many Christians do not take legal action, believing that their case is lost in advance, and that the criminals are often linked to power.
Contacted by telephone, the Iraqi government refutes these accusations and calls on these victims to lodge a complaint with the competent institutions.
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