Father Fady was one of the symbols of national unity. Grant mercy on
Father Fady Haddad, a martyr of the nation and humanity, and shame on
those criminal killers who are destroying the country.
Fady al-Haddad served the St Elie parish in Qatanaa, a mixed Christian and Muslim town of 15,000 inhabitants 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Damascus |
BEIRUT -- A Greek
Orthodox priest has been found slain after
being kidnapped near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Syrian government and
the Vatican news service reported Thursday.
The body of
the Rev. Fadi Jamil Haddad, pastor of St. Elias Church in Qatana, outside
Damascus, was discovered in the Jaramana
district of the capital, reported
Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news service. The site was not far from the area
where he was kidnapped by an “unidentified armed group" last Friday, the agency
said.
The Vatican
agency quoted a colleague saying the priest had been “horribly tortured.”
The official
Syrian news service said the priest was found with a gunshot wound to his head.
The government news agency blamed the crime on “terrorists,” its usual
characterization of the armed opposition fighting to oust President Bashar
Assad.
According to
the official account, the priest was abducted
while seeking the release of another person who had been kidnapped by militants.
But it was
not clear if the priest’s slaying was political, sectarian or criminal
in nature. Many
Syrians have complained of a breakdown in law and order and a spike in
kidnapping for ransom and other crimes as security has deteriorated.
Opportunistic criminals have moved to take advantage of the nation's
security void.
The Vatican
news agency reported that the priest’s kidnappers had demanded a ransom equivalent to about $715,000 for the priest’s
release. “It was, however, impossible to find the money and meet this
exorbitant demand,” reported Agenzia Fides.
The Greek
Orthodox population is considered the largest Christian denomination in Syria,
where Christians represent perhaps 10% of the population. Syria is overwhelmingly Muslim.
Christian
leaders in Syria say their community, which has ancient roots, is in a
precarious position. Some Christians
have joined the rebellion and called for Assad to step down. But many
Syrian Christians back Assad, whose administration has been tolerant of
religious minorities even as it has crushed political dissent.
Assad has tried to rally support among Christians and other
minorities against the armed rebellion, which is led by the nation's
Sunni Muslim majority. There have been reports from Syria of government
efforts to arm Christian communities. But some Christian leaders have
urged their co-religionists to remain neutral in the conflict.
Some Christians voice fears that Islamists will take over the
secular Syrian government and that the nation will experience the kind
of sectarian violence, including the bombing of churches and torching of
Christian shops, that ravaged neighboring Iraq after the U.S.-led
invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. Hussein, like Assad, was a secular
autocrat who tolerated Christian religious practice. Tens of thousands
of Iraqi
Christians fled to Syria in the aftermath of Hussein’s fall.
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