Worries are growing about the fate of the two bishops kidnapped on April
22 near Aleppo, in Syria. More than a month after the kidnapping, there is
still no news of the Greek Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, and
Youhanna Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan of the same city. According
to several sources, the two prelates were kidnapped in the village of Kafr Dael
as they were trying to mediate on behalf of two priests kidnapped by rebel
groups several months earlier.
If, in the days following the abduction indignant responses poured in
from around the world, the matter was not covered by the media. A silence that
makes the Orthodox fear that the two bishops will be forgotten.
Alerting the International Community
During a sermon given in Damascus on May 20, the
Orthodox Patriarch John X of Antioch said, "I will take advantage of this
occasion in order to address, in your name, you who are in the homeland or in
the diaspora, a call to the international community to encourage them to use
all possible means to obtain the liberation of the kidnapped [bishops]..."
In response to that call, the Orthodox community in
France decided to mobilize to alert "the international community and
French public opinion about the two kidnapped bishops, but also about all
people deprived of liberty," according to the words of the communiqué. At
the initiative of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Europe and the Syriac
Orthodox church in Paris, a gathering is scheduled on Sunday, June 2, at Human
Rights Square, Trocadero, Paris.
Interviewed by FRANCE 24, Ignatius Alhochi, bishop of
the Orthodox community in France, emphasizes that it is "a silent
gathering of prayer for the liberation of the two bishops..." He explains
that the goal of this unprecedented demonstration is to "truly attract the
attention of pubic powers to this matter, in order to work for their
liberation."
The Bishops are Still Alive
Even if little information filters in about the
identity and motives of the bishops' kidnappers, some sources within the
opposition have nevertheless repeatedly reported that the bishops are still
alive. "The only information that is sure for us is that two or three days
ago a doctor visited the two bishops. They are well," declared to the
press Abdalahad Steipho, a member of the Syrian National Coalition, the main
opposition body, on May 26, at an opposition meeting in Turkey.
Abdalahad Steipho, himself Christian, presides over a
committee formed by the SNC to investigate the heinous kidnappings of which
rebel groups have been accused for two years. He has also stated that the
committee's efforts to make direct telephone contact have failed and that it
was receiving "a great deal of contradictory information about the identity
of the kidnappers and their demands for ransom." Asked about different
possible paths, the opposition member responded, "This kidnappings are
sometimes committed by criminal groups, sometimes by the regime of Asad, and
sometimes, we must be frank, units of the Free Syrian Army are responsible for
such kidnappings, in order to arrange hostage exchanges."
Kidnapping, a Lucrative Business Now Commonplace in
Syria
For Hassan, a member of the community, who is
attending the gathering on Sunday, "the initiative does not intend to be
just for the community, but rather for humanity." "All are invited to
come. There will be Christians and Muslims," he assures. This father, a
dentist, does not hide his worry. "We hope that the bishops were kidnapped
for profit, as is the case with many Syrians, and not because they are
bishops," he confides.
Several Muslim dignitaries have been killed since the
beginning of the Syrian conflict, two years ago, but this is the first time
that Christian prelates have been victims of the belligerents. Christians, who
constitute about 5% of the Syrian population, are particularly vulnerable in
the context of the anarchy encouraged by the conflict that is bloodying the
country, the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights emphasizes.
Interviewed last September by Reuters, Youhanna Ibrahim, the kidnapped bishop of
Aleppo, indicated that Aleppo's Christians were directly affected "by the
fighting that has been going on for months for control of this great city of
the north of the country."
"We want to attract attention to these two
persons, but through them to all those who are kidnapped in Syria," Hassan
explains. Kidnapping has, in effect, become commonplace in Syria. Many have had
to pay exorbitant sums in order to obtain the freedom of a family member from
armed groups.
Cited by Le Figaro last February, the Syrian Minister of Reconciliation
evoked "an large market."
He estimates at 5000 the number of people kidnapped by one side or the other or
by bandits who take advantage on instability in order to make money.
