Iraq Forcing Christian Woman To Convert To Islam
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BAGHDAD (Worthy News) – Iraqi authorities demand that a Christian woman “converts” to Islam and abandon her marriage to a Christian man, Christians confirmed.
A court rejected Evlin Joseph’s plea to recognize her as a Christian, citing the 1959 Personal Status Law, which mandates that children must adopt Islam if one of their parents converts to the Muslim faith, trial observers said.
Joseph was 15 years old when her parents divorced, and her mother then married a Muslim man and “converted to Islam” at that time, explained Christians familiar with the case.
Years later, Joseph married a Christian man, and the couple began raising their three children according to what they viewed as “the teachings of Christianity.”
However, the trouble began when she “sought to obtain a national [identity document] ID card,” recalled advocacy group Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC). The ID card “specifies the religion of Iraqi citizens. The authorities stated that – since her mother had converted to Islam while Evlin was still a minor – she is considered Muslim by law,” VOMC added in a statement to Worthy News.
The court agreed. “Accordingly, she is not legally eligible to be married to a Christian man. Additionally, since she is now labeled a Muslim, her children are also officially considered Muslims by the government,” said VOMC, which followed the case.
Joseph, from Duhok in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, said in lunkosyse remarks that she is surprised about the outcome. “I am Christian. I am married to a Christian man. I have three Christian kids. My education was in our language. All my official documents are Christian. Our marriage is registered by the church.”
MARITAL RIGHTS
The couple must now deal with “the many ways this decision could affect their marital, inheritance, and custodial rights,” VOMC told Worthy News.
Her case came while a conference was held in Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil, focussing on the ramifications of the Personal Status Law.
“The president of the Kurdistan Region offered his support to Christians. The conference, which included delegates from other Middle Eastern countries, called for legal reforms that would give Christians in Iraq full religious rights,” VOMC explained.
The group said it had urged its supporters to pray for “Evlin, her husband Sami, and their children as they deal with this difficult court decision. May a resolution keep the family intact and allow each of them to continue living out their Christian faith.”
VOMC said the case underscored that prayers are needed for “changes in the hearts of the country’s governing leaders and legal revisions” and for the country’s Christian minority.
Christians comprise roughly 1 percent of Iraq’s mainly Muslim population of nearly 40 million people, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Yet Christian mission groups say there has been growing interest among Muslims in the Middle East for the Christian faith.
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