“Kidnapped in Iraq”. The Christian worker spoke of his 66-day abduction by Islamic militants. A Christian volunteer from France talked about the 66 days he spent in prison for Islamic militants.
Alejandre Goudarzi, a former Catholic school teacher from France and a volunteer for a Syrian Christian humanitarian organization, spoke of two torturous months in which they was held hostage by Islamic militants.
History and geography teacher Alejandre Gudarzi said he joined SOS Christians of the Middle East Syria in 2014. Hearing reports of a decline in the number of Christians in Syria, Gudarzi felt in 2015 that he was obliged to help in what is considered to be one of the most difficult countries for Christians.
In his new book, “Kidnapped in Iraq”, Goudarzi tells the story of his humanitarian trips to Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city and one of the oldest inhabited cities in history. He also spoke in detail about the 66 days of torture and ill-treatment he endured as a jihadist prisoner.
Gudarzi said the road to Aleppo was controlled by many terrorists from al-Nusa, al-Qaeda’s Syrian daughter group and the Islamic State.
“I was afraid. Roads of empty cars and busses on the road, the reaction of passengers who panicked as soon as the checkpoint appeared. Islamists often disguise themselves as Syrian army soldiers in order to stop and kill them,” he said. “I knew it all and sometimes I was scared. But I also knew that God was there. ”
Despite the fact that his life was in danger, Gudarzi believed he is doing the Lord’s work.
In January 2020, terrorists abducted him while he and three other volunteers were on a bus trip from Damascus to Aleppo.
According to Gudarz, they slept on a cold floor and covered themselves with dirty blankets, they could not eat for days and the Shiite militiamen who robbed them closed their eyes and played them Qur’an for weeks and days. Gudarzi explained that the kidnappers subjected them to psychological torture, taking turns mocking them and talking to them about French football stars. They were told to “forget” their families because they would never see them again.
“This is where your lives end,” Gudarzi recalled.
Even in the darkest of times, Gudarzi recalled, prayer helped them get through the day.
“Sometimes I was embarrassed when someone saw me praying,” he wrote. “It was not so embarrassing to pray as embarrassing to acknowledge our weakness and fear. We didn’t want them to know how close we were to the collapse. ”
It was not until March 2020, when the global coronavirus pandemic broke out that Gudarzi and his friends were released and he met his wife and son in France.
As Goodarzi further explained, he hopes that his book “Kidnapped in Iraq” will warn other countries of the threat of radical Islam.
“Christians from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq often tell us that if we are not careful enough, one day we will also face Islam as they do,” Goudarzi said. – “Many of the terrorists currently in Syria and Iraq arrived from Europe. They are clearly a threat to European countries, where they may return at one point or another. ”
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