Christian Family Ordered To Abandon Faith
In a contentious legal decision, an Iraqi court has ruled that Elvin Joseph, a Christian mother residing in Duhok in the Kurdistan Region, and her three children must convert to Islam. This ruling stems from Iraq’s Personal Status Law, which mandates that children adopt Islam if one of their parents converts.
The situation unfolded after Joseph’s mother converted to Islam following a divorce and subsequent marriage to a Muslim man, leading to legal complications for Joseph and her family. Despite asserting her Christian faith in an interview with Rudaw Media Network, highlighting her Christian upbringing, marriage, and documentation, the law insists on the conversion of her and her children due to their familial ties to Islam.
The U.S.-based International Christian Concern raised concerns about the implications of this ruling, emphasizing that it not only affects religious identity but also impacts marital rights, inheritance, and custodial matters under Sharia law. Joseph and her Christian husband, Sami Patros, faced bureaucratic challenges at the National Identity Card Office, where officials cited the conversion of Joseph’s mother-in-law to Islam as grounds for requiring Joseph and her children to convert as well.
Akram Mikhail, a lawyer specializing in defending Christian families in such cases, condemned the ruling, stating that forcing someone to convert to Islam goes against Islamic principles that prohibit coercion in matters of religion.
The controversy has sparked broader discussions among the Christian community in Iraq and garnered attention at a recent conference held at Catholic University in Erbil. The conference, attended by prominent figures including Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, addressed the far-reaching implications of Iraq’s Personal Status Law on religious minorities. Speakers from across the Middle East, such as Khaldun Saelayte from Jordan and Mohammed Nuqal from Lebanon, highlighted disparities in how personal status laws impact Christians in Iraq compared to neighboring countries.
The conference concluded with calls for Christian leaders to advocate for reforms to Iraq’s Personal Status Law, aiming to protect religious freedoms and uphold the rights of minority communities in the country.