Baghdad -- An Iraqi Christian woman has successfully challenged her official religious classification after being registered as a Muslim in government records. The ruling, which was upheld by Iraq's Court of Cassation, has been welcomed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, a global legal advocacy organization that defends religious freedom.
I was 11 years old the first time I was told Assyrians don't exist by a friend. I got home, slumped on a stool and snapped open a packet of prawn cocktail crisps. Assyrians are an Indigenous ethnic group from West Asia, tracing our ancestry to an ancient people. Parts of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq make up our homeland. We speak the Neo-Aramaic Assyrian language.
Every year on 7 August, Assyrians around the world commemorate one of the darkest chapters in their history. Yet outside their communities, the date passes almost unnoticed. There are memorial ceremonies. Candles are lit. Names are read aloud. Families remember grandparents who never returned home. But beyond those circles, there is mostly silence.
Three Christian political parties on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi and Nineveh Governor Abdul Qader Al-Dakhil to halt ongoing land distribution measures in the Nineveh Plains, a historic homeland for several of Iraq's Christian communities, warning they could lead to demographic change in the area.
More than 2,500 years after the fall of the Assyrian Empire, archaeological discoveries continue to reveal new details about its powerful kings and the grandeur of its capital. In July 2026, a rare, well-preserved inscription stone was unearthed in Iraq detailing the achievements of the powerful Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
President Masoud Barzani received His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Polis III Nona, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world, on Monday, according to a statement from the Barzani Headquarters. During the meeting, Patriarch Mar Polis III Nona expressed his gratitude and appreciation for President Barzani's continued efforts to protect and support the rights of Christians and all ethnic and...