News & Releases | Assyrian Policy Institute

Sep 8, 20192 min read

Mass Grave from ISIS Massacres Uncovered in Assyrian Town of Bakhdida, Iraq

A mass grave containing seven sets of adult remains has been discovered in Al-Qiyama cemetery located in the Assyrian town of Bakhdida...

Sep 3, 20192 min read

Sentencing Hearing for Shamiran Issavi and Victor Bet-Tamraz Postponed

Today's scheduled sentencing hearing for Shamiran Issavi, Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, and three Christian converts charged for activities...

Aug 27, 20192 min read

Coalition Formed to Support Assyrian Genocide Recognition

A diverse group of leading Assyrian-American organizations announced today that they have come together to form a coalition with the aim...

Aug 9, 20194 min read

API Statement on Indigenous Peoples' Day 2019

An estimated 3.5 million people globally comprise a distinct, indigenous ethnic group known as Assyrians. Tracing their heritage to...

Aug 7, 20192 min read

API Statement on Assyrian Martyrs Day 2019

Every year on August 7, Assyrians worldwide pay tribute to the memory of the Assyrians lost to genocide and persecution. The date marks...

Aug 5, 20192 min read

Iran-Backed Militia Refuses to Comply with Orders to Withdraw from Nineveh Plain, Stages Protest

Hundreds of protestors believed to be affiliated with Brigade 30 of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) set up blockades in parts of the...

Aug 4, 20197 min read

API Statement on the Status of Assyrians in Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the ground-breaking ceremony on August 3, 2019 for the construction of the “first new...

Jul 26, 20192 min read

Assyrian Activist Faces Death Threats After Criticizing KRG Officials

A prominent Assyrian human rights activist residing in Ankawa, Iraq named William Bnyameen Adam—known by his pen name “Khlapieel...

Jul 20, 20194 min read

API Attends 2019 State Department Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom

The Assyrian Policy Institute was pleased to attend the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom hosted by the U.S....

Jul 18, 20191 min read

Assyrian Human Rights Activist Meets with U.S. President Donald Trump

On July 17, 2019, Iranian Assyrian human rights activist Dabrina Bet Tamraz was part of a delegation of survivors of religious...

Jul 18, 20195 min read

Dabrina Bet Tamraz Testimony at U.S. State Department Ministerial

Assyrian Pastor and human rights activist Dabrina Bet Tamraz spoke on a panel entitled "Addressing Challenges to Religious Freedom in the...

Jul 11, 20191 min read

Explosion targets church in Assyrian district of Qamishli, Syria

On July 11, 2019, a car bomb exploded outside the entrance of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in the al-Wusta district of...

Jun 25, 20198 min read

Highlights from 2018 U.S. State Department International Religious Freedom Report

On June 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of State released its 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom which describes the status of...

Jun 21, 20192 min read

New Report Highlights Challenges Faced by Assyrian Refugees in Jordan

Of the millions of refugees in Jordan, little is known about the fate of the ethnic Assyrians among the refugee population. The...

Jun 19, 20192 min read

KRG Intelligence Forces Detain Assyrian Journalist Hormuz Mushi in Dohuk

On Monday, June 17, 2019, Kurdish intelligence forces (Asayish) detained Assyrian journalist Hormuz Mushi in Dohuk, Iraq. As of June 19,...

Jun 14, 20193 min read

API attends Hudson Institute Working Group with Lara Yousif Zara

On June 12, 2019, API Director Reine Hanna attended a meeting of the Working Group on Christians and Religious Pluralism in the Middle...

Apr 24, 20192 min read

Statement on the 104th Anniversary of the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek Genocide

On this day, the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian communities commemorate the genocide that began in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman...

Mar 11, 20192 min read

Assyrians in Iraq's Nineveh Plain Fear Plans for New Settlements will Advance Demographic Change

A proposal calling for the creation of new settlements in the Nineveh Plain has alarmed members of the local Assyrian community who fear...

Feb 23, 20192 min read

Statement on the 4th Anniversary of the ISIS Assault on Khabour

Four years ago today, ISIS terrorists launched an assault on the 35 Assyrian villages in the Khabour Region in northeastern Syria. Dozens...

Jan 24, 20192 min read

Ancient Assyrian Monastery in Iraq Under Threat

Among the many threats posed by ongoing Turkish airstrikes targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in parts of northern...