Report: interview with released Syrian Christian hostage
March 05, 2015
A Syrian Christian kidnapped from his village by the Islamic State and released nearly a week later said that he was treated well but constantly pressured to convert to Islam.
“We said we would not convert,” the hostage said, according to a report from the Assyrian International News Agency. “They said you must then pay the jizya [tax on non-Muslims] or leave the country. That was the option given to us. We said we would pay the jizya but we would not convert.”
“They said this time they would not collect the jizya because we had not fought against them,” said the hostage, who had been rounded up during a surprise nighttime raid. “They said that they would release us on condition that we not return to our village. They said if we returned and they captured us again they would kill us without any other option, they would behead the men and enslave the women.”
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