Video: ISIS Executes Three Assyrian Christians, Threatens More Executions if Ransom not Paid

An ISIS video apparently taken several weeks ago has emerged of the terror group executing three Assyrian Christian men with bullets to the back of the head and then showing three more hostages demanding payment of $50,000 for each additional captive. There are an estimated 280+ additional Assyrian Christian hostages held by ISIS.

As each man identifies himself, he says: “I am a Nazarene (Christian).”

I reported here at PJ Media back in February of the ISIS offensive in the Khabur River valley in northeast Syria, where a number of Assyrian Christian villages were attacked. Reports at the time indicated that churches were systematically burned and hundreds of hostages taken.

https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/651983062071443456

#Khabour • IS executed three Assyrian hostages. Dr Abdulmasih Aniya, Ashur Abraham and Bassam Michael.

— DAVID (@dvdvrgl) October 8, 2015

An article from Al-Masdar News reports:

The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) has released another a gory video in which they brutally execute three Assyrian civilians that were taken captive during their winter offensive (February 23rd) in the Khabour River region of the Al-Hasakah Governorate.

In the video, the terrorist group threatens to execute the remaining 280 captives if a ransom of $50,000 per hostage is not paid to them in the coming weeks; this monetary demand aggregates to $14 million (U.S.) in order to release the prisoners.

Following their threat, the terrorist group summarily executed the three Assyrian captives and made another threat to execute more of the hostages if their demands are not met.

The three Assyrian men that were identified in the video are Dr. ‘Abdel-Maseeh Aniyah of Tal Jazirah (Al-Hasakah), Ashur Rustam Abraham of Tal Jazirah, and Bassam Issa Michael from Tal Shamiram (Al-Jazirah).

A post on the Assyrian Democratic Organization’s Facebook page states that it believes the video was made on the morning of the first day of the Islamic festival of Eid Al-Adha — the “Feast of Sacrifice” — when Muslims all over the world ritually slaughter animals.

UPDATE: Video from Lebanon’s OTV here.

The transcript according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA):

First group:

I am Assyrian Christian Ashur Abraham from the village of Tel Tamar, Jazira
I am Assyrian Christian Basam Essa Michael born in 1976 from the village of Tel Shamiram, Tel Tamar
I am Assyrian Christian Abdulmasih Enwiya born in 1997 from the village of Jazira district of Tel Tamar.

Second group:

I am Assyrian Christian Zaya George Elia, born in 1988 from the village of Shameran District of Tel Tamar.
I am Assyrian Christian William Youhana Melham District of Tel Tamar, village of Tel Shameran born in 1964.
I am Assyrian Christian Marden Tamraz Tamraz born in 1966 village of Tel Jazira. We are here and there are dozens of us. Our fate is the same as these [pointing at the 3 dead Assyrians lying in front of him] if you do not take proper procedure for our release, we realize the inevitable fate.

AINA adds:

The three Assyrians were part of the group of 253 Assyrian that were abducted by ISIS on February 23, when it overran the 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur river in the Hasaka province. ISIS subsequently released 48 of the hostages. With the death of these three, the number of Khabur Assyrians being held by ISIS is now 202.