This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3062

Dutch parliamentarian reports on Christians being crucified in Iraq - converts and those in "mixed marriages" targetted

July 25, 2007

URGENT BREAKING NEWS: Christians Crucified In Iraq, Dutch MP Says (BosNewsLife Exclusive)--WRAPUP
Monday, 16 July 2007
By BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent Eric Leijenaar in the Netherlands with reporting from Iraq and Syria http://www.bosnewslife.com/middle-east/syria/3056-urgent-breaking-news-christians-crucified-in
Dutch Parliamentarian Joel Voordewind investigated crucifixions in Iraq.

(ADDS BOMB BLASTS IN KIRKUK) AMSTERDAM/BAGHDAD/DAMASCUS (BosNewsLife)-- Militants have crucified Christians in Iraq, including converts from Islam and people involved in "mixed marriages," a senior Dutch parliamentarian has established.

Joel Voordewind of the governing coalition's junior party 'ChristianUnie', or ChristianUnion (CU), said he managed to confirm information received from a "trustworthy source" at the United Nations about the recent crucifixions, according to declarations obtained by BosNewsLife Monday, July 16.

Several Iraqi Christians "are nailed to a cross and their arms are tied up with ropes. The ropes
are put on fire," Voordewind said.

Voordewind described how a person, who "survived" a crucifixion, "even showed holes in his hands," apparently from nails. Voordewind said victims of the crucifixions are "in most cases Christian converts who abandoned Islam or people who, religiously speaking, are involved in mixed marriages."

FOREIGN MINISTER

He did not say how many Christians have been crucified in recent weeks and months, apparently not to pre-empty an official report expected shortly. The politician was due to present his findings to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen, a Christian Democrat, within the next few days.

Thousands of Iraqi Christians flee violence, including the blasts in Kirkuk Monday, July 16, that killed dozens of people. It comes as thousands of Christians are reportedly fleeing Iraq because of ongoing threats and violence directed against them. In the latest major incidents, in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, over 80 people were killed Monday, July 16, in bomb blasts. Most of the casualties were caused by a suicide truck bomb which detonated near the offices of the Kurdish political party led by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani.

Voordewind was part of a Dutch delegation visiting several countries in the Middle East, including Syria, where several left-leaning parliamentarians held talks with the militant group Hamas. Those discussions led to tensions in the Netherlands as the centrist government of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende views Hamas as a "terrorist organization."

Following recommendations from the European Union, the cabinet cut-off ties with Hamas. The group currently controls the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian territories bordering Israel, while the internationally recognized Palestinian government is in charge of the West Bank.

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3062