A/HRC/7/10/Add.1 page 33 religious intolerance and extremism” (see above para. 1, category IV. 1.). Iraq Urgent appeal sent on 6 June 2007 jointly with the Independent Expert on minority issues 130. The Special Procedures mandate holders brought to the attention of the Government information they had received regarding attacks on members of Christian minority communities in Baghdad. They were informed that attacks on Christian communities had recently intensified in Baghdad, in particular in al-Dora areas of Altu’ama Al-Mua’alimeen, AbuTaiara, Mechanich and Asia, all of which witnessed campaigns of intimidation, threats, kidnappings and killings by various criminal armed groups. Allegedly, Iraqi official security forces did not have a regular presence or patrol in al-Dora and were seen only during official house searches/raids, and when people called to report dead bodies on the streets, left for 3-5 days before being collected. 131. According to the information received, between 15 April and 20 May 2007, churches in the Rusafa district of Baghdad received 300 displaced families, all of whom needed immediate support. This number reportedly does not reflect the total number of all displaced Christians in Iraq in the past two months, as many of them have either left Iraq or sought shelter in the northern parts of the country. Interviewed families reported family members killed and that their bodies were left on the streets for days, before Iraqi police or members of the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) were able to collect them. Residents understood that if they went to collect the bodies, they themselves would be killed. By the time the bodies were collected by the MNF-I or Iraqi security forces, they were in a much decomposed state. 132. The family of Arkan Wadeea represents one example. In December 2006, Mr. Wadeea’s wife was killed meters from their rented house in al-Dora, in violence following reports concerning the Pope’s alleged comments on Islam. He was unable to collect her body for five days until MNF-I troops came to do so. Upon his collecting her body from al-Yarmouk hospital it was evident that dogs had attacked the body. Mr. Wadeea then moved to live with his father who resides in a house where he worked as a guard. On 8 May 2007 at 10 p.m., five armed men with covered faces stormed the house and ordered them to leave. The next day he left together with his father. 133. In April, 2007, a Christian man owning a stationery shop was kidnapped in the al-Dora District and his family paid a ransom to secure his release. In early May, an armed group stormed their house and kidnapped his four daughters. 134. In May 2007, Um Rana, also a Christian, found a threatening letter at her home in alDora advising that her family had three choices: convert to Islam, pay “jizya” of 250,000 Iraqi Dinars or leave the house on the same day without taking their belongings, failing which her family would be killed. The family left and now lives with relatives in Baghdad’s al-Baladiyat area. 135. In April 2007, churches in al-Dora were allegedly threatened with attack if their crosses were not removed. Priests obeyed and cancelled Easter ceremonies to avoid attacks. Later threats against Christians increased and some families found messages demanding that they leave their