Brave souls in Iraq - nuun - ن - نون

I am touched by their determination to support the Christian communities in Iraq this December. See this article, in English, in Al-Shorfar.

The significance of the letter ن : it is pronounced nuun or noon and was marked on the doors of the houses IS were going to get next for having Christian families inside. Even the Financial Times had a leader column article explaining this a few months ago. So the families had to go, fast. 'n' stands for one of the words for Christian, originally from the word 'an-nasira', which means Nazareth.

There is at least one article a day on the Middle East in the Financial Times, so I am cutting them out. They are written in a cool-headed and de-escalatory style. Also compassionate, or I am I merely seeing what I want to see?

Why write for Iran, Iraq and Bahrain?

Back in the summer I went on my first demonstration. I met many people as we demonstrated and marched from the Bahraini to the Saudi embassies via Hyde Park Corner. We asked each other the usual questions like: Is this your first demonstration? One lady told me she had been on loads both in Iran and now in the UK. None of the people I spoke to said they were Bahraini. I recognised the gory photo on the banners from Twitter and stood so I couldn't see them all over again and again.

I also went to a poetry reading at the Pimlico offices of the Refugee Centre. There I chatted to a man who had come from Iraq. He told me that what had happened in Serbia/Yugoslavia wasn't my fault, which I appreciated hearing. I explained to him how years ago I saw a Bosnian woman sitting on the pavement with a cardboard placard begging in London and felt afraid of what I assumed would be her hatred if she knew I had Serbian family.

Because of these two encounters I decided to write Amnesty letters for Iran and Iraq in addition to Bahrain.