The Independent: Baghdad trying to recover Christian properties seized by militias

British newspaper “The Independent” published a report that included the formation of a committee in coordination with the Sadrist movement’s leader Muqtada al-Sadr whose mission is to coordinate with the leaders of the movement and Christian citizens to restore rightful ownership of Christian property and real estate. It has so far succeeded in returning some properties to their owners for the first time since 2003 in Iraq.

The issue of Iraqi militias, armed groups, and powerful individuals appropriating the properties of Christian citizens in Iraq after 2003, whether through fraud or through forcing their owners to sell them at low prices, has represented a major challenge for the Iraqi state in its attempts to persuade a large segment of the Christian component to stay or return to Iraq, according to the Independent.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, armed groups, militias and influential people have worked to gradually seize the real estate of Christians, particularly in the in Baghdad, Basra and Nineveh regions.

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, formed a committee in early 2021 with the mission of coordinating with both leaders of the movement and Christian citizens to restore their property and real estate.

According to the Independent’s report, Iraqi MP and member of the Committee to Restore the Role of Christians Imad Yohanna added that some influential people and militias continued to control Christian properties inside Iraq, while pointing to the success of the Sadr Committee in restoring 70 Christian homes during the year 2021.

Youhanna added that “the forgery process is still going on, and there is greed from some influential people within the state’s departments; they form mafias that search for vacant houses belonging to Christians traveling outside Iraq.” He pointed out that, “these parties are working to falsify the identification papers belonging to the owner of the house through bribes paid to some employees in the real estate registration departments.”

Yohanna explained that “Most of the houses that were taken over are located in Baghdad, as it includes a relatively high density of the Christian population, such as the Karrada and Al-Dora districts and the Al-Athuri neighborhood,” noting that “there are 20 neighborhoods in Baghdad where most of the residents are Christians.”

Yohanna warned against emptying the country of Christians and other minority groups after the seizure of their role, pointing out that “the seizure of the homes and lands of Christians is taking place in Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish areas alike.”