The Assyrian Democratic Organization
22-04-2021
On the twenty-second of April of 2013, the two Bishops on their way back to the city of Aleppo after failed attempt to liberate two Christian priests kidnapped by an armed group fighting in Syria, Archbishop John Ibrahim, Archbishop of Aleppo for the Syriac Orthodox, and Paul Yazji, Archbishop of Aleppo for the Greek Orthodox, they were accompanied by a private driver of the Archbishop, John Al-Sayed Fathallah Kabboud and Mr. Fouad Elia.
On the eve of the eighth anniversary of the kidnapping of the Archbishop of Aleppo, the main issues are still shrouded in mystery and many questions remain unanswered. Although the kidnapping of the two metropolitans was not the first act to target Christian clerics, it remains the most ambiguous and cover up issue; no confirmed information has been published nor leaked from the hijacking party, not even the motives behind the kidnapping were disclosed which open the doors for many hypotheses and finger pointing at many parties involved in the Syrian conflict, at their local, regional and international levels. The question remains unanswered, “who is responsible for the kidnapping of the two holy men?” who were prominent personalities with a significant leverage and symbolism in the Syrian society. Among the Christians in general and Assyrian Syriacs in particular, in addition to this, there are questions related to the personality of Bishop John Abraham, his spiritual, social and patriotic stance, his speech and his positions, which he expressed in many occasions regarding the Syrian situation, in which highlighted him as a Christian religious figure to say the least that he did not identify with the discourse of the regime in the country as did the majority of clergies.
All this and the world is still silent as the graves are. No transparent investigations were conducted to reveal the perpetrators, neither with the factions that controlled the region at the time, nor with the factions and organizations that took control over the area later, not even with the detainees of the terrorist organization ISIS or their leaders, after defeating them militarily in their last strongholds in Syria and Iraq, which represents a minimum requirements from all parties in the conflict and from all international organizations to disclose the fate of the two Bishops.
The Assyrian Democratic Organization, remembering this heinous crime with pain and sorrow, and with the hope of liberating the two metropolitans and safe returning them alive to their families, parishes and their country; this is a criminal act committed not only by the hijacker or the perpetrators, but by everyone who conceals, mislead, or decimate information useful in uncovering the circumstances of the crime that would lead to determine the location and fate of the kidnapped, and calls for international and regional action to reveal the where about of Archbishop Youhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazji and open a transparent investigation with all parties involved in the kidnapping process, and punish everyone associated with this crime, in compliance with its legal and moral responsibilities, and to prevent such a crime from being obliterated and forgotten.
Freedom for the two Bishops.
Assyrian Democratic Organization,
The Executive Committee, 22 April 2021, Syria
