Iraqi Christians pessimistic after vote
Luke Randall
Many Christians boycotted recent elections in Iraq due to the hijacking of their minority representation seats by a hostile party. Some are believed to have given up on the electoral process altogether, while others no longer have the right to vote in the Muslim-majority country.
Due to their minority status, five of the Iraqi parliament’s 329 seats are reserved for Christians, but have been hijacked in the past by the Babylon Movement, a Chaldean Catholic party which purports to stand up for believers. But it is said by many Christians to be effectively a militant Shia Muslim party supported by Iran.
Iraqi Muslim finds faith after dream of Jesus
Lydia Houghton
The story of an Iraqi former Muslim who came to faith after seeing Jesus in a dream is remarkable.
“I was sleeping, and I saw someone coming towards me,” Yasin* told Open Doors UK & Ireland, “I cannot describe how beautiful He was. His hair was long, He wore a scarf on His head. He was so beautiful, I could not stop looking at Him. He put his hand on my head and said, ‘You are my beloved child; this is the way, follow me.’”
Outrage as nine-year-old girls can marry in Iraq
Luke Randall
New legislation allowing girls as young as nine to be married in Iraq is a “grievous violation” of children’s rights and “perpetuates a cycle of oppression” against women in the country, an Open Doors source says.
New amendments to Iraq’s Personal Law, passed by an alliance of Shia Muslim parties, legislate that Islamic courts now have jurisdiction over family matters. This includes marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, scrapping safeguards which have protected women and girls in the Middle Eastern country since the original law’s passing in 1959, and making it home to the lowest age of consent in the world.