On August 24th, 2001 Mister Raad Marcus, of Noohadra (Dohuk), a 36 year old Armenian married to an Assyrian woman, was murdered by a Behdanani Kurd. Mister Marcus was observing a quarrel between his father-in-law and a Behdanani Kurdish neighbor and his two sons; when he attempted to separate the two men he was stabbed through his heart by one of the Behdanani Kurds, and was killed immediately. The murder occurred at nine O'Clock in the evening; two other members of Mister Marcus's family were injured, their condition is unknown. Mister Marcus is the son of Gharib, and was a member of the Chaldean Church; he is survived by his wife and three children.

The Behdanani Kurdish father and one of his sons have been arrested, the other son is in hiding. The Behdanani controlled Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) government of Masoud Barzani has not yet charged the men, despite the eyewitness testimony of Mister Marcus's wife and father-in-law.

This latest incident continues the pattern of crime against Assyrians and other Christian minorities in the area, where no perpetrators are brought to justice. Since the "safe haven" zone was established in North Iraq, over twenty Assyrians have been killed by Kurds, and not a single Kurd has been prosecuted. (see the following AINA reports: 8-19-2001, 7-30-2001, 2-19-2001, 12-25-1999 , 11-30-1999, 6-19-1999, 12-10-1998, 12-28-1997, 6-24-1996, 2-1-1996). Assyrians find themselves living in a dangerous atmosphere, where they are victimized with impunity.

It is widely believed that this is a calculated policy by the KDP to intimidate the Assyrians and facilitate the expropriation of their lands. The ongoing case of Youkhana Khaie, an Assyrian who has been arrested and tortured by the KDP, is such an example (see AINA, 8-19-2001, 7-30-2001). Mister Khaie, alleged to be a member of the Turkish based PKK, has been tortured, denied visitation by family members and the Red Cross, and denied due process. The accusation that Mister Khaie is a member of the PKK, which is outlawed in Iraq and has no presence there, has been used in previous instances by the KDP against Assyrians (see AINA, 11-30-1999, 10-16-1999), and has become a convenient pretext for harassing and arresting Assyrians. When such a charge is made there is little recourse for Assyrians, as the atmosphere is akin to a witch trial, and the standard of evidence is nil. Mister Khaie speaks Assyrian, Arabic and Soorani, the Kurdish dialect spoken in North Iraq. He has no history of political activism, and it is highly unlikely that he would join the PKK, who operates in Turkey, and whom he would find it difficult to communicate with, since the PKK speak Turkish and Kurmanji, the dialect of the Turkish Kurds, which is mutually unintelligible with Soorani.

AINA contacted several Kurdish experts in Washington D.C., seeking an opinion on the violence directed against Assyrians by the KDP. When informed of the Khaie case, the experts, who wished to remain anonymous, immediately and unanimously asserted that his arrest and torture was an attempt to expropriate his land, and that this is a deliberate policy sanctioned by the highest levels of the KDP.

Mister Khaie was arrested on April 5th. His trial date, September 2nd,  was announced on August 27th in a statement by the KDP only after Assyrians mobilized on his behalf; had they not done so, he would have languished in prison indefinitely, without being charged and without any indication of when he would be charged or released. The trial itself was postponed because the presiding judge was in Syria. It is not clear why this was not known in advance and another judge assigned the case. No new trial date has been announced, and Mister Khaie will continue to languish in jail, in a state of limbo.

As for the latest murder, it remains to be seen whether the KDP will bring the murderers of Raad Marcus to justice. If past history is any indication, this is unlikely to happen.