Syria: Five kidnapped parishioners still held; freed priest confined

Father Hanna Jallouf

Some of the parishioners who were kidnapped with their parish priest by Jihadists last Sunday are still being held, local church sources report. Father Hanna Jallouf OFM, parish priest in the Syrian village of Knayeh, was released on Friday together with about 15 people. Fides reports that five men have not been released.

Father Hanna’s uncle is among the five men still detained. The others are the cook of the convent of St Joseph in Knayeh and the factotum worker of the convent of Our Lady of Fatima in Yacoubieh, together with their brothers.

New details have emerged about the abductions. Local sources report that it was not a kidnapping, but a punitive measure enforced by the Islamic Court of Darkush, a few kilometers from Knayeh. Five days before, Fr Hanna Jallouf had launched a complaint in the court over the increasing harassment suffered by his community at the hands of armed Islamists.

In some interviews yesterday, the Custody of the Holy Land Peirbattista Pizzaballa OFM confirmed that Fr Hanna is confined to his village, pending the outcome of the trial at the Islamic Court in which he is under investigation on charges of collaboration with the Assad regime.

Source: Fides