Christian Iraqi Refugee Pleas For Help
WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD (BosNewsLife)– Christian Iraqi refugee has pleaded to the United States to be reunited with her disabled husband whom she was forced to leave behind when she was granted asylum in the United States, BosNewsLife learned Friday, May 2.
The Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Council of America (CASCA), which supports Iraqi Christians, Julet Yousef and her three young daughters were granted refuge in the United States in 2007, but her husband not due to a United Nations policy.
“So I was forced to take my daughters and come to the United States, but I left my husband behind and he is suffering and he needs the help,” an emotional Yousef said in comments published by the influential Christian news Website The Christian Post.
“I plead to all of you to help in bringing my husband so we can be reunited,” she said, after mentioning that he had lost a leg in the Iran-Iraq war. “It is important that my husband can be with us together.”
SIMILAR STORY
Yousef’s story is similar to that of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians, who reportedly comprise nearly 40 percent of the refugees fleeing Iraq.
Church leaders say persecution of Christians has increased in recent months, referring to attacks that included the murder of Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul Paulus Faraj Rahho in February and a series of seven church attacks in January.
Since 2004, some 40 Christian churches and institutions have been bombed and 12 Christian clergy have been kidnapped or murdered. Of the 45 Chaldean priests in Baghdad, less than half remain and the others have been killed, kidnapped or have fled the country, according to Christian estimates.