‘This man is a saint’: how a bishop raised millions in ransom money to free 226 hostages from Islamic State

Paying ransoms is illegal in the US and most of the West, and the idea of giving money to IS is morally fraught, even for those who saw no alternative

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Assyrian Christian bishop Mar Afram Athneil (right) greets Maryam David Thalya after her release. Photo: AP

Published: 1:46pm, 7 Dec 2016Updated: 9:42pm, 7 Dec 2016

Deep inside Syria, a bishop worked secretly to save the lives of 226 members of his flock from Islamic State (IS) by collecting millions of dollars from around the world to buy their freedom.

The Assyrian Christians were seized from the Khabur River valley in northern Syria, among the last holdouts of a minority that had been chased across the Mideast for generations. On February 23, 2015, IS fighters attacked 35 Christian towns simultaneously, sweeping up scores of people.

Honestly, this man should go down as a saint, the things that he’s done, the sacrifices he’s made to help these people

Aneki Nissan, Assyrian Christian

It took more than a year, and videotaped killings of three captives, before all the rest were freed.

Paying ransoms is illegal in the US and most of the West, and the idea of giving money to IS is morally fraught, even for those who saw no alternative.

“You look at it from the moral side and I get it. If we give them money we’re just feeding into it, and they’re going to kill using that money,” said Aneki Nissan, who helped raise funds in Canada.

“[But] to us, we’re such a small minority that we have to help each other.”