Beirut, February 25, 2010 (Tele Lumiere/SIGNIS) - Tele Lumiere/Noursat, the Middle East Catholic television channel and international member of SIGNIS, is broadcasting special programs supporting and revealing the plight of Christians in Iraq, including an interview with Patriarch Youssef III Younan and a new documentary, Displaced in their Homeland.

Innocents are killed in our beloved country Iraq on a daily basis. They are slaughtered in their own homes, universities, schools and on the streets only because they are Christians. Who has a good conscience can remain silent when crimes are committed against human beings and no one is punished?!

This was the cry expressed by the Syriac Catholic Patriarch Youssef III Younan in an interview to Tele Lumiere during the program Challenges with Charbel Zwein, discussing the Iraqi situation.

The Patriarch has already taken a stance, sending a letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki urging the government to act, protect the Christians and to fully take control of the security in Mosul where killing the innocents is allowed without any deterrence. Patriarch Younan asked why the security forces in Iraq are unable to protect the Christians: Why dont these targeted innocents possess weapons to defend themselves, rather than being slaughtered like sheep?

Today, the situation in Mosul and all Iraqi areas is the worst... We need security forces more than ever, helping the Christian minority to remain attached to their land so that the city never empties, otherwise coming back will be difficult if security and life are destroyed.

Patriarch Younan called people again through Tele Lumiere to have hope and asserted that whoever kills in the name of religion and God is criminal. The Iraqi people are intelligent and kind and the state should preserve this richness. The Patriarch mentioned as well the importance of dialogue between religions in order to accept others and build a civilized country.

We, the Eastern Christians went through various conditions; we were persecuted, killed and displaced. We are the children of martyrs. But today, we are living in a world open to communication. We must transmit our cause to the entire world, admitting that these acts are unacceptable and unjustifiable. A minority is targeted because it belongs to a different religion. However, we should always feel hope as St Paul said: Let your hope keep you joyful.

Displaced In Their Homelands is another new production revealing the plight of Christians in Iraq. Directed by Farid Akrawi, the 40 minutes documentary is filmed during the latest events of persecutions of Christians in Iraq. It is a journey inside the streets of the country, reflecting a dark and painful period faced by the Iraqi Christians after Baghdads fall on April 9th, 2003. Stopping to talk with the victims and searching for the truth, the films director hopes that this work will remove fear from their hearts, eliminate darkness or break the long silence in a world neglecting and ignoring the fact that the Christians of Mesopotamia are being displaced.

The documentary shows real scenes taken from incidents of kidnapping and killing of priests, bishops and laymen, in addition to testimonies from the victims families. A strong Christian message is sent in the film especially with the last words calling for forgiveness and faith, spoken by Bishop Boulos Faraj Raho, Archbishop of Mosul who was kidnapped and murdered with three other laymen in February 2008.