Popular anger against U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser Rayan al-Kildani has grown in the two months since the wedding hall fire in the Nineveh Plains, casting a shadow over his election hopes.

Popular anger against U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser Rayan al-Kildani has grown in the two months since the September 26, 2023 wedding hall fire in the Christian town of Baghdeda (Qaraqosh), capital of the Hamdaniya District in the Nineveh Plains. The fire killed 134 persons and set in motion an intensified struggle for control of the district. Local Christians believe that the owner of the wedding hall is an affiliate of Rayan al-Kildani and his brother Osama al-Kildani, the founder and present commander of Kataib Babiliyoun (50^th brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF). The attempted removal of the district administrator Issam Behnam and six other Christian officials is viewed locally as an opportunistic move by the Kildani brothers to exploit the tragedy to both excuse the real culprits and to remove Christian opponents of the Kildanis and Kataib Babiliyoun. This kind of purge of local Christians – replaced with Muslim officials – was previously undertaken by PMF militias in the neighboring Tel Keif district.

Kildani and his fake-Christian militia – largely manned by southern Iraqi Muslims – may now face the same wave of popular anger over public safety that followed the 2019 Mosul ferry sinking. The wedding fire attracted national attention, and Iraqis across the country came to Qaraqosh to mourn during the number of mass funerals and mourning ceremonies, including both the Iraqi Prime Minister and President. A number of incidents from these days of mourning highlight popular Christian frustration and refutation of the Babylon Brigade.

• Firstly, when Kataib Babiliyoun-affiliate Evan Faeq Jabro, Iraq’s Minister of Migration and Displacement, tried to visit the site of the wedding fire on September 29, she was kicked out by crowds yelling “traitor!” (Figure 1). Jabro was (for the second time this year) denied a meeting with Pope Francis when she visited Rome alongside Iraqi President Latif Rasheed on November 18, 2023. Rayan al-Kildani also faked one meeting with the Pope this year.
• Secondly, during one of the mourning ceremonies held on September 30, Qaraqoshis would not allow Rayan al-Kildani or one of the Babiliyoun-affiliate MPs, Duraid Jamil Eshoo, to enter the mourning hall which led to a verbal altercation in which Rayan threatened to attack a church if he would be denied entry for a funeral and Duraid threatened the people of Qaraqosh stating that “if 100 died now, we’ll make them 200 next time, and we’ll break the bishop’s crosier (a reference to a traditional staff Archbishop Younan Hanno carries) on his head!” (The event was video'd but evidence of Rayan's statements were confiscated by authorities.)
• Third, Christian anger has also been directed to Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, Yousif Abba, a religious leader known to have been coopted by Kataib Babiliyoun. When Abba arrived late to one of the funeral masses held in October, Qaraqoshis, who are traditionally deferential to clerical authorities and respectful to Bishops, led chants of “traitor!” in an unprecedented show of public anger. This event was successfully video'd and evidence stored.

These instances of public anger from a traditionally quietest community, in the face of violent intimidation,  highlights the level of desperation that local Christians feel in light of the wedding fire tragedy and the ongoing efforts by the Kildanis and Kataib Babiliyoun to diminish the Christian clergy (most notably Cardinal Louis Sako) and seize Christian properties. On November 28, the Iraqi churches even declared that the would not hold Christmas festivities due to both the war in the Holy Land and the Baghdeda fire. Christians are also preparing a boycott of the December provincial elections. When Kildani's party wins the Christian seat on the Nineveh provincial council - which is almost inevitable due to the coming boycott combined with Kataib Babiliyoun vote-buying - local Christian communities will hope to attract international commentary on the boycott and the non-representative results of the local elections.