December 30 2003 at 07:42AM

Iraqi Christians fear for their lives



	By Reuters

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

Basra - Bashir Toma Elias was killed by a single shot to the head in the middle of Basra's bazaar on Christmas Eve as he prepared to head home to celebrate with his wife and five children.

The killing of the Iraqi Christian alcohol merchant sowed fresh fear in a community afraid of increasing religious intolerance in mainly Shi'ite Muslim southern Iraq.

His widow Jihan cried hysterically outside the Chaldean Church in the affluent Manawi Pasha neighbourhood after Christmas Mass, held in the morning because the lack of security prevented holding a midnight service.

'His widow Jihan cried hysterically'

"We buried Bashir and our priests are celebrating while we are being slaughtered," said 40-year-old Jihan. "Where is the peace they preach?"
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Bashir, 48, was the latest liquor store trader fatally shot in the country's second largest city since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April. Residents say the killer escaped as passers-by looked on, in a city still plagued by crime and mob rule despite the British military presence.

Since the war that toppled Saddam, armed groups have looted and set ablaze several liquor stores in the once freewheeling city, where Shi'ite religious parties now wield power and seek to impose strict moral regulations, similar to Iran.

More than 400 liquor stores run by Christians, the only community allowed to sell alcohol under the former Baathist government, were forced to close in the immediate aftermath of the US led occupation of Iraq.

Basra was once a cosmopolitan trading centre and playground for rich Kuwaitis and Saudis who flocked to its casinos and nightclubs in the midst of an austere region where alcohol was banned.

'Our priests are celebrating while we are being slaughtered'

"Alcohol selling has changed from Christians to Muslims. Now it's Muslims who sell after taking the trade from us," said an embittered Joseph Hanna, a Christian property developer and hotel owner who blames militant Shi'ite groups for the killings.