Christian Post | Leah MarieAnn Klett | January 29, 2020
Four members of the French nongovernmental organization Christians of the Middle East, a charity that seeks to “help Christian communities remain (in the region) and rebuild,” have disappeared while working in Baghdad.
The four members of the charity went missing near the French embassy in the Iraqi capital on Jan. 20, Christians of the Middle East director Benjamin Blanchard said at a news conference in Paris on Friday, France 24 reports.
Three of the disappeared workers are French and one is Iraqi, he added. There have been no ransom demands, and the charity has asked that their identities remain concealed for security reasons.
The charity has been working with persecuted Christians in Iraq since 2014 when Islamic State jihadists seized the predominantly Christian province of Mosul, displacing tens of thousands. The group is also active in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil, where many Christians sought refuge.
The missing workers were in Baghdad “to renew their visas and register the association with Iraqi authorities,” Blanchard said, and were due to inspect the group’s activities in the city, including the opening of a new school.