IRAQ: A senior Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric has issued a decree, or fatwa, ordering the killing of any Jew who buys property in Iraq, an aide has said.
The Iran-based cleric, Ayatollah Kazem al-Husseini al-Haieri, also said in his fatwa that selling real estate to Jews was forbidden for Muslims.
A cleric at Ayatollah Haieri's representative office in the holy city of Najaf said several Iraqis had sought Ayatollah Haieri's religious decree after Jews from abroad approached them over the past six weeks.
"Any Jew who tries, from now on, to buy a lot of land or a house in Iraq should be killed," the decree said. "Selling any lot of land or a house in Iraq to Jews is forbidden," the decree said.
Iraq's Jewish community traces its roots to the deportation of thousands of Jews from Jerusalem some 2,500 years ago, after the city was captured by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
Jews in Baghdad, estimated to number about 70, keep a low profile. Two Jews in Baghdad told Reuters they had felt safe under toppled leader Saddam Hussein and their property had not been confiscated. "We had a quiet life under Saddam," said a 90-year-old Jew who declined to give his name.