ISIS’s brutality was swift and symbolic. On June 20, 2014, they destroyed the statue of “Our Lady of the Tiger” atop Al-Tahera Church as part of a campaign to “cleanse the place of polytheist elements.” This act reflected the destruction of other statues that had long been ingrained in the character of the city.
The terror further intensified on June 28, 2014, with the kidnapping of two nuns, Sister Atur and Sister Maskanta from the Chaldean Congregation of the Daughters of Mary, as well as three children from the orphanage they ran. Fortunately, they were released unharmed on July 17. These events coincided with the declaration of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” and the establishment of the “Islamic Caliphate” under Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The brutality of ISIS knew no bounds. After accusing Christian clergy of refusing a meeting, the group released a chilling document titled “Destiny” on July 18, 2014. Distributed by ISIS members, it was intended to be read aloud in mosques after Friday prayers.
This document presented an impossible choice for Mosul’s Christians: leave within 24 hours or face forced conversion to Islam, a heavy non-Muslim tax (jizya), or death. Abdul Ahad, a witness to these horrific events, recounted the desperate exodus that followed.
“ISIS has forbidden us from taking anything,” Abdul Ahad said in an interview with ACI Mena. “Furniture, identity papers, money, gold, everything was confiscated. Many were forced to abandon their cars and walk, sometimes barefoot, to Duhok and Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, or to the Nineveh Valley before it also fell into the hands of ISIS. »
