MOSUL, Iraq Relatives of an Orthodox priest who was kidnapped and found beheaded three days later said Thursday that his captors had demanded his church condemn the pope’s recent comments about Islam and pay a US$350,000 (€280,000) ransom.
More than 500 people attended a memorial service Thursday for father Amer Iskender in the northern city of Mosul after his decapitated body was found Wednesday evening in an industrial area of the city.
Iskender was a priest at the St. Ephrem Orthodox church in Mosul.
"He was a good man and we all shed tears for him," said Eman Saaur, a 45-year-old schoolteacher who said she attended Iskender’s church regularly. "He was a man of peace."
Relatives, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the unidentified group that seized Iskender on Sunday had demanded a ransom and that his church condemn a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI last month that ignited a wave anger throughout the Muslim world. In a speech at a German university the pope quoted a medieval text that characterized some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as "evil and inhuman," declaring Islam was a religion spread by the sword.
13 comments
Bastards.
Do _______ or we’ll kill someone (and throw a wad of cash on top of it).
“Islam … spread by the sword.”
Or by whatever they used to behead Fr. Amer Iskender.
God bless our holy martyrs. So he’s Orthodox.
[mantra] Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of peace. [/mantra]
*sigh*
Still not working…
What a wretched group of people. First, to kidnap a peaceful man. Then to demand a impossible amount for an already-oppressed people.
I hope that Fr. Iskender is praying for them, for they need it.
Way to prove that Mohammed’s teachings were good and human! I know I’m convinced.
If anyone knows the fruits of Islam, it is the Orthodox. They have suffered Islamic oppression since the beginning of this cursed religion. I cannot say the priest is a holy martyr. I pray he is, and that he was seeking the Truth and Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Orthodox faith. I pray that he was a man working for unity, and most probably was. This way he will be good with the Lord and get to heaven.
CAIR’s condemnation is here:
http://www.cair-net.org/default….4984&theType=NB
Apparently there is no sense of irony in Islam. One must have to be willfully stupid to not see that actions such as this merely prove the Pope’s point.
And now, let us all sit back and listen to the horror, shame, and denouncement of these monsters by all the moderate Muslims…
Hello? Is this thing on? Anybody out there?
Islam focuses more on events than the people who perform them. To the Muslim, a man’s head was severed and the outcome can only be seen as God’s will.
What part of “evil and inhuman” don’t they understand?
This is what can happen to any Christian at any time in an Islamic culture. Within the bounds of decency and humanity, I will do whatever it takes to help ensure that my children do not live in a world dominated by Islam.
Fr. Iskendar is a man of peace. unfortunately he has been brutally beheaded by a man who is more peace than him……