Convert, Leave or Die
by Greg Yoder
Mission Network News
by Greg Yoder
Mission Network News
...Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) spoke by telephone with one of the Assyrians who was captured in Tel Goran and subsequently released. His name is Robert (name changed). He gave a full account of their ordeal, from the moment they were captured to the moment they arrived in Hasaka after being released.
Robert tells AINA, “There usually are guards in the village. On that day, the guards left for Hasaka at 4 A.M. ISIS entered the village at 5 A.M. and knocked on our doors and awoke us. They rounded us up–everyone in the village–and placed us in a small room. On the other [north] side of the river, there were Kurdish and Assyrian fighters, and we could hear the exchange of fire between them and ISIS.”
After that they were taken to the Abdul Aziz Mountain. Robert says, “They placed us in two small rooms. We spent the night there. They asked us to convert to Islam.”
From there, they were placed in homes for five days. Robert tells AINA, “They kept pressuring us to convert to Islam; it was their constant focus. But we were not mistreated. We said we would not convert. They said you must then pay the jizya [a Christian poll tax] or leave the country. That was the option given to us. We said we would pay the jizya, but we would not convert...”
Robert tells AINA, “There usually are guards in the village. On that day, the guards left for Hasaka at 4 A.M. ISIS entered the village at 5 A.M. and knocked on our doors and awoke us. They rounded us up–everyone in the village–and placed us in a small room. On the other [north] side of the river, there were Kurdish and Assyrian fighters, and we could hear the exchange of fire between them and ISIS.”
After that they were taken to the Abdul Aziz Mountain. Robert says, “They placed us in two small rooms. We spent the night there. They asked us to convert to Islam.”
From there, they were placed in homes for five days. Robert tells AINA, “They kept pressuring us to convert to Islam; it was their constant focus. But we were not mistreated. We said we would not convert. They said you must then pay the jizya [a Christian poll tax] or leave the country. That was the option given to us. We said we would pay the jizya, but we would not convert...”
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