Results 1-6 of 6 for iraq speaker:Stephen Pound
- Christian Community (Iraq) (8 Dec 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: The point that the Minister touches on—the assertion that the community in exile may be making a statement not in keeping with one made by the community in northern Iraq—is of the greatest and gravest significance. Will the Minister give us some suggestion as to who exactly made that statement in northern Iraq? What statement from what group would convince him that the feeling is...
- Christian Community (Iraq) (8 Dec 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: I make no apologies for again raising the issue in the Palace of Westminster of the Chaldo-Assyrian community in Iraq. In doing so, I have three main aims: first, to discuss the specific issue of safe haven for the rapidly diminishing, brutalised, tormented Chaldo-Assyrian community in Iraq; secondly, to seek further assurances from Her Majesty's Government in their contacts with their...
- Christian Community (Iraq) (8 Dec 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: I thank the Minister for his question. I do not imply for a second that the sufferings of the Chaldo-Assyrian Christian community are in any way unique in Iraq; what I am saying—and what I can document and prove consistently—is that Chaldo-Assyrians and Christians are being specifically targeted. No group in modern Iraq is being targeted in the same way. There has been one attack...
- Christian Community (Iraq) (8 Dec 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: ...the way in which he has consistently raised this issue; I pay tribute to him and give him credit for that. One thing that I regret most is the fact that the natural allies of moderate Muslims in Iraq—the Chaldo-Assyrian community—have never been recognised on anything other than an individual basis by the voice of moderate Arabs in Iraq. One would have thought that the...
- Christian Community (Iraq) (8 Dec 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has been a still, small, voice amid the storm, particularly since his return to Iraq from his recent operation. However, that statement was made some time ago and there has been very little indication of any diminution in the attacks on the Christian community since. I am happy to pay tribute to him; he is someone with whom one can have rational discourse. However,...
- Assyrian Christian Minority (Iraq) (6 Jul 2004)
Mr Stephen Pound: .... Rather than go through Assyria's entire history, tempting thought that may be, I shall rush forward to 1918—the age of the diaspora. From 1300 to 1918, the Assyrian Christian community in Iraq, and those in Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and surrounding areas were viciously persecuted. Genocide was a regular feature. The Islamic conquerors of that part of the world imposed a tax, and many...