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Wounded Iraqis Traveling to Paris for Asylum

   Lisa Bryant | Paris 08 November 2010
   One  of the France-bound Iraqis awaiting departure at Baghdad airport,
   08 November 2010

Photo: AFP

   One  of the France-bound Iraqis awaiting departure at Baghdad airport,
   08 November 2010

   A  French  plane  is  expected  to land in Paris Monday night carrying
   dozens  of  Iraqis  wounded in a church hostage crisis in Baghdad last
   month,  along  with  family  members. They are arriving under expanded
   asylum   grants   which  the  French  government  made  available  for
   vulnerable Iraqis.
   The  Iraqis  bound  for  Paris are the first of two expected groups of
   victims  and  their families from an al-Qaida hostage crisis that took
   place  in  a  Baghdad  church  on  October 31. They include 36 wounded
   Iraqis,  almost  all  of  them  Christian.  Some 21 family members and
   companions  are  also  with them. Those wounded will be transferred to
   Paris hospitals for treatment. Â
   French  Immigration  Minister  Eric  Besson  said  another group of 93
   people will arrive in Paris in the coming weeks. Overall, Besson said,
   France's  asylum  program  was  ready  to take in an extra 150 Iraqis,
   including those wounded in the church attack and their family members.
   On  Sunday,  churches  across  France  read out an appeal sent by five
   Iraqi bishops to their French counterparts.  The spokesman for French
   bishops,  Monsignor  Bernard Podvin, told French radio that the church
   hostage taking had shocked the international community.
   Monsignor  Podvin  said  that  in  their letter, the Iraqi bishops had
   called  on  French  people  to be with them in their time of distress.
   French  bishops had replied in a letter offering solidarity and prayer
   -  and  an appeal to the international community to protect Christians
   and all other vulnerable people in the region.
   According  to  France's immigration ministry, the country has taken in
   1,300 Christian refugees from Iraq since 2007.

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