N. Iraq

A KURD WHO DARED TO CONFESS CHRIST OPENLY

MANSOUR HUSSEIN SIFER (1954-1997)

Mansour Hussein Sifer, a Kurdish convert to Christianity in Northern Iraq, was murdered in the Christian bookshop where he worked in Arbil by an unknown assassin on the morning of April 21, 1997.

No clear motive was known for the killing, apart from the victim’s profession of faith in Christ which had provoked some threats against his life. To date no conclusive evidence has been found to the killer’s identity.

Hussein, 43, came from a tribe of Faily Kurds originally living along the Iran-Iraqi border without any formal nationality. Although he was born and raised in Baghdad, Hussein did not have Iraqi citizenship. His family spoke Arabic at home, and he graduated from a technical institute in the capital with a degree in survey engineering.

After partnering for a time in contract construction with his father and brothers, he left Baghdad in the early 1980s to work in Iran. It was 10 years later, when northern Iraq came under the control of the various Kurdish factions, that he moved back to Iraq to live in Arbil, where he worked for several months for a German relief organization.

A gifted writer and poet, Hussein had been known openly in the community as an atheist, and his writings since his student days reflected communist thinking. After his marriage in 1994 to a Kurdish girl from Arbil, the couple had one son, born in December 1995.

Hussein had come to faith in Christ in January 1996, largely through the witness of another Kurdish believer in Arbil. "He had questions on Jesus’ identity, the Trinity, the Bible, worship, prayer, fasting – so many things!" recalled one Christian in the city, who said he had spent many hours answering Hussein’s questions in the months before he decided to follow Christ.

He was baptized nearly six months later, in June of 1996.

A short time after his conversion, he began working in the small bookshop in the city which loaned and sold Christian books and Bibles. Hussein carried a pocket New Testament everywhere he went, pulling it out many times a day to study on his own, as well as to share its truths with others.

The small, well-used volume was found on the floor next to his body. He had apparently had it in his hands when the assassin put a pistol to his head and fired.

"As an older man," one Christian in Arbil noted, "he had a very courteous way with all he met, and was very active in teaching others the truth he had found in Christ." But he had confided in a few close Christian friends about several threats he had received while working in the bookshop.

"He was very bold," another close friend commented, recalling that Hussein was the only believer who decided to stay behind in Arbil during the October 1996 hostilities between Kurdish factions. All the rest fled to Dohuk for a few weeks, when Baghdad’s troops re-entered the region. "He said he wasn’t a Western agent, working for any foreign organization," the believer recalled, "so why shouldn’t he stay?"

A fellow believer in Arbil recalled an instance since Hussein’s conversion, when during medical treatment he was put under general anaesthetic at a local hospital. "He started to sing and then pray aloud in Jesus’ name," the believer smiled, "to the surprise of everyone who heard him." He was never afraid to be known as a follower of Christ, another friend said.

Hussein is survived by his wife and 16 month old son. Since her husband’s death, his widow has learned that she is expecting their second child by the end of the year.

‘A Kurd who dared to confess Christ Openly, p28, May 1997, 1997 Compass Direct, P.O. Box 27250, Santa Ana, CA 92799. USA

N. IRAQ 1997