Skip to content

ISIS terrorists back down before elderly Christians who mock them and refuse to convert!

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
Christians refuse to convert even after death threats.

Eleven sick and disabled, elderly Iraqi Christians said they preferred death to giving up their faith, defying militants from the Islamic State who demanded that they convert to Islam or be beheaded.

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
8/23/2014 (9 years ago)

Published in Middle East

Keywords: Iraq, News, International, Christians, faith, convert, survive, mock, ISIS, threat, elderly

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The show of Christian strength forced the Islamic State militants to drop their demands, and instead force the Christians-including an 80-year-old woman with breast cancer-to leave their village of Karamless, after robbing them of their possessions.

Your Iraqi brothers and sisters NEED YOUR HELP!

Sahar Mansour, a refugee, reported the story to Catholic News Service via email after the group turned up at Ankawa refugee camp, and the 80-year-old woman, known as Ghazala, told it to her on August 18.

"When the people of Karamless fled from the village they (the elderly) were alone," Mansour said. "She (Ghazala) told me when they woke up in (the) morning they were surprised when they saw nobody in the village."

They were "afraid and terrified," she continued, and then they met masked fighters from the Islamic State who ordered them to their homes.

Mansour said that Ghazala told her that on August 16, the terrorists assembled the group "and told them either to convert or to be killed by sword."

"Ghazala told me that all the people told the terrorists that 'we prefer to be killed rather than convert,"' Mansour said. Mansour reported that Ghazala said that some members of the elderly group mocked the terrorists for ignoring Islamic texts that forbade forced conversions of non-Muslims.

"When ISIS heard that they told the people to leave Karamless immediately, without taking anything, to leave with only with the clothes they were wearing," she said.

"ISIS took all their money from all of them and their gold," Mansour said.

The five men and six women later arrived at the Kalak checkpoint, the gateway to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Iraq, in two cars and where allowed to contact relatives who were already in the camps.

At the camp Ghazala was reunited with her brother, and is now receiving medical treatment for her cancer.

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Prayer of the Day logo
Saint of the Day logo
Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.