Iraq: Churches in Mosul are used as prisons by Caliphate jihadists

(©Reuters) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Catholic news agency Fides reports...

Vatican Insider Staff Rome

“Some churches in Mosul have been transformed into places of detention by jihadists of the Islamic State (IS), who have laid down laws in the northern city of Iraq since June 9,” Fides news agency reports.

“In particular, according to sources reported by the local news website www.ankawa.com, in recent days some detainees, who were blindfolded and handcuffed, were transferred to the ancient Chaldean church of the Immaculate Conception, in the eastern part of the city.”

“Local sources told Fides that St. George monastery has been transformed into a place of female detention. And there are those who fear that in the premises of the monastery, women will be forced to suffer sexual abuse.”

In Mosul, on Monday, November 24, jihadist militants of the Islamic State had resorted to explosives to severely damage the convent of the Chaldean Sisters of the Sacred Heart, previously occupied by them and used as accommodation and logistics base. "The jihadists of the Caliphate,”, have occupied the churches, including those which are very ancient,” Rebwar Audish Basa, Procurator of the Order of St. Anthony sant'Ormisda of the Chaldeans told Fides. “Among the concerns that plague us there is also that of those who fear that a possible military offensive for the liberation of Mosul could inevitably lead to consider churches as targets to hit, since they have become logistic bases of the jihadists. And of course, the destruction of old churches would be an irreparable damage and loss".