身代金d: The 解放する／自由なing of 226 Christians from Islamic 明言する／公表する
SAARLOUIS, Germany (AP) ― The millions in 身代金 money （機の）カム in dollar by dollar, euro by euro from around the world. The 寄付s, raised from church offerings, a Christmas concert, and the diaspora of Assyrian Christians on Facebook, landed in a bank account in Iraq. Its ultimate 目的地: the Islamic 明言する／公表する group.
深い inside Syria, a bishop worked around the blurred 辛勝する／優位s of international 法律 to save the lives of more than 200 people ― one of the largest groups of 人質s yet 文書d in IS's war in Syria and Iraq. It took more than a year, and ビデオテープd 殺人，大当りs of three 捕虜s, before all the 残り／休憩（する） were 解放する／自由なd.
支払う／賃金ing 身代金s is 違法な in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and most of the West, and the idea of 支払う／賃金ing the 交戦的なs is morally fraught, even for those who saw no 代案／選択肢.
Zammo Marza, Sherineh Marza, Charli Kanoun and Abdo Marza, from left, ひさまづく at the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of Marza Marza in Saarlouis, Germany in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. The Marza family were の中で 226 Assyrian Christians taken 捕虜 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in a February 2015 attack on their villages in Syria?s Khabur River valley. It took a year to 解放する／自由な the 人質s, and only after three were killed and millions of dollars gathered by the Assyrian diaspora 世界的な was paid to the 交戦的なs, and in the end the Khabur 地域 has been 全く emptied of the tiny, centuries-old 少数，小数派 community. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
"You look at it from the moral 味方する 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 基金s in Canada. But, he said, there were more than 200 lives at 火刑／賭ける, "and to us, we're such a small 少数，小数派 that we have to help each other."
The Assyrian Christians were 掴むd from the Khabur River valley in northern Syria, の中で the last 抵抗s of a dwindling 少数，小数派 that had been chased across the 中東の for 世代s. They trace their 遺産 to the earliest days of Christianity, their Church of the East 設立するd by the apostle known as 疑問ing Thomas. To this day, they speak a dialect of Aramaic, believed to be the native language of Jesus. But most also speak Arabic and some Kurdish, the languages of the neighbors who have long より数が多いd them.
In a 選び出す／独身 night of horror on Feb. 23, 2015, IS 闘士，戦闘機s attacked the Christian towns simultane ously, 広範囲にわたる up 得点する／非難する／２０s of people and sending everyone from 35 towns and villages 逃げるing for their lives.
At 1 a.m., Abdo Marza was awakened by the sound of 急ぐing water in his village of Tal Goran. Somewhere upstream, the dam that had almost 完全に 削減（する） off the Khabur River in the 中央の-1990s was open. The men were taking 転換s guarding the village and it was not yet his turn. For the first time in many weeks, there was no sound of 砲火 in the distance. He settled 支援する into an uneasy sleep.
Around 4 a.m. Islamic 明言する／公表する group 闘士，戦闘機s streamed in, 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing their guns and kicking at doors. They herded the terrified 居住（者）s into a home at the 辛勝する／優位 of town.
As 夜明け broke, the 武装した 闘士，戦闘機s took each man 支援する to his home and 軍隊d him to destroy any 調印するs of Christianity
恐れるing for their lives, Marza and his neighbors obeyed the rough 命令（する）s and stomped on their icons of the Virgin Mary, their pictures of Jesus.
"There was no way you could resist," he said.
But they 辞退するd repeated 需要・要求するs to 変える. Months later, recounting that night to The Associated 圧力（をかける） from the safety of a German sidewalk cafe, Marza's 手渡すs trembled at the memory.
As they were 存在 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up, people made panicked phone calls to cousins, sons, daughters, friends ― Assyrians who had left the 地域 in generational waves for the West. To the 部外者s, 噂する mixed with fact, choppy 発言する／表明するs could barely be heard over the sounds of 射撃s. Even the total number of 人質s was a mystery, 範囲ing in 見積（る）s from 200 to 280 men, women and children.
By the second day of 捕らわれた, the 人質s were sure they were going to die. Earlier that month, IS had beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. In August 2014, the 極端論者s had 掴むd the largest Christian town in Iraq, 運動ing out its 居住（者）s.
But as days stretched into a week, the 17 men 逮捕（する）d from Tal Goran learned IS had other 計画（する）s. They were 申し込む／申し出d freedom, with a catch. One man would have to 配達する a message to their bishop in the town of Hassakah about 40 miles away, and return with an answer. The 極端論者s 需要・要求するd $50,000 per person, young or old, or they would be killed.
Marza wasn't eager, but he volunteered for the 使節団 as long as the 残り／休憩（する） of his village was 解放する／自由なd. The 交戦的なs were so delighted at his courage, they said, that they would keep only his 6-year-old daughter Maryam and an 年輩の aunt. The 残り／休憩（する） of the Tal Goran 人質s could go.
The 極端論者s gave Marza a 捨てる of paper 調印するd and stamped by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group, 許すing him 安全な passage: "The infidel Christian Abdo Marza wants to 交渉する between us and their church for money. Please 容易にする his 仕事 from the 検問所s in three days."
The bishop, 損なう Afram Athneil, took three days to answer as he 協議するd with others in the church around the world on what to do. Finally he gave Marza a 調印（する）d envelope to take 支援する to IS.
When Marza returned and 手渡すd the envelope to the IS leader, he said, he had no idea of the message inside or what it would mean for his 運命／宿命 and his daughter's. But the 極端論者 broke into a smile. "Your bishop is a very smart man." With that, little Maryam was 解放する／自由なd.
Athneil began secret 交渉s for the more than 200 others, but it took a while before Assyrians realized what had happened.
In California, filmmaker Sargon Saadi packed his gear and 長，率いるd 支援する to a 母国 he had left a １０年間 before, hoping to find out what had happened to the Khabur villages. He 設立する them 砂漠d, but for a handful of ill-equipped Assyrian 闘士，戦闘機s.
"We didn't know why they took them, we didn't know where they took them, what they 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do with them," Saadi said. Were they going to be enslaved, 貿易（する）d, 身代金d?
The answer filtered 負かす／撃墜する from the bishop: IS 手配中の，お尋ね者 money.
The price was daunting. The 交戦的なs' starting 需要・要求する of $50,000 a person would mean more than $11 million for the entire group.
"There's no 平易な way to give them money. It's very dangerous, it's also 違法な in many countries," Saadi said. "And the money they were asking for, no one could afford that 肉親，親類d of money."
In Canada, after an 緊急 会合, Canadian Assyrians pooled around $100,000 to help the Khabur Christians and sent it off to the church to use wherever it could do the most good, Nissan said.
"Every Assyrian I know knows somebody that was either kidnapped or 直接／まっすぐに 影響する／感情d by the kidnapping," he said.
In the German rustbelt town of Saarlouis, a chain-smoking Assyrian entrepreneur who owned two restaurants suddenly 設立する a 原因（となる） more important than his 商売／仕事s. Charli Kanoun had 説得するd the 政府 there to 受託する the 解放する／自由なd Tal Goran 人質s. His next 仕事 was to raise money for the 残り／休憩（する）.
"Everyone 与える／捧げるd; the church opened an account in Irbil, Iraq, and 発表するd it on the internet so everyone can 寄付する," Kanoun said.
On the 郊外s of London, Andy Darmoo ran the Assyrian Church of the East 救済 Organization in 新規加入 to a 水晶 chandelier 商売／仕事. He was one of the first people the bishop had 警報d about the 身代金 需要・要求する. Darmoo and just a handful of Assyrians were the only ones who knew 正確に／まさに how many Christians had been taken: 226.
In Australia, Nicholas al-Jeloo, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne whose cousins were の中で the 人質s, gave a slide 贈呈 on the history of the Khabur at a 地元の church hall. Much ― but not all ― of the audience was from the Assyrian community, and more than 500 people 寄付するd that night, he said.
Al-Jeloo spent his childhood in Australia 審理，公聴会 about the 裁判，公判s （打撃，刑罰などを）与えるd upon the Assyrian people, how they managed to stick together, keeping the same dialects, the same customs, and even the same village 指名するs as they moved from Turkey to Iraq and finally to Syria. He himself had visited there to 完全にする his family tree.
The calls for 寄付s went out across social マスコミ, but まず第一に／本来 on Facebook, where second cousins and friends of friends 設立する themselves in the same 網状組織s, anxiously asking for solid news or, failing that, 噂するs. On May 26, two 年輩の women were 解放する／自由なd. On June 16, one man was 解放（する）d. On Aug. 11, 22 more people were 解放するd and many in the diaspora hoped the ordeal was nearly over.
"For the Assyrians, the Khabur was one of their last cultural 要塞／本拠地s in a sea of 敵意 in the Middle East," al-Jeloo said. "If they didn't help these people, it was the end."
Then in September 2015 （機の）カム the ビデオ showing three Khabur men, dressed in orange jumpsuits, 存在 発射 to death by their captors. It's not （疑いを）晴らす what 誘発するd the 殺人，大当りs ― whether the 身代金 需要・要求するs had changed, the Islamic 明言する／公表する group's cash was running low, or the captors had 簡単に grown impatient.
"When that happened, everybody went crazy and money started 飛行機で行くing in from all over. Churches, and 寄付s, Assyrians, 非，不，無-Assyrians, just 寄付するing to the churches and funneling it to the bishop," Saadi said.
They didn't see other 選択s.
"We can't fight them, Assyrians don't have an army to go 救助（する） them. They don't have SWAT teams, they don't have SEAL 6. The only 選択 they have is to 支払う／賃金 身代金. And everybody was so fearful that the 残り／休憩（する） of the 人質s were also going to be killed," he said.
Nissan 組織するd a Christmas concert with $90 orchestra seats, raising a few thousand dollars.
"We just kept giving and giving," said Nissan.
By then, Marza had settled into an immaculate house in Saarlouis, and young Maryam began learning German along with Arabic. But his wife and other children ― 含むing a 19-month-old baby ― are stuck in Lebanon, を待つing 許可 to live in Germany.
The 残り／休憩（する） of the men from Tal Goran are also without their wives and children, and say their 安全な home in Europe grows lonelier by the day. Islamic 明言する／公表する group and other 極端論者s have made a fortune off the desperation of 人質s and their families. A 国際連合 決意／決議 from December 2015 非難するd the practice of taking 捕虜s and called on 政府s "to 妨げる kidnapping and 人質-taking committed by テロリスト groups and to 安全な・保証する the 安全な 解放（する） of 人質s without 身代金 支払い（額）s or political 譲歩s."
But while no 政府 appeared to stop the fundraising, the Assyrians say no country stepped in to 解放する／自由な the Khabur 捕虜s either. 政府s are 気が進まない to discuss the 問題／発行する at all, and 非，不，無 率直に 認めるs 支払う／賃金ing or 支持するing others to 支払う／賃金 身代金s. But in June 2015, four months after the Khabur Christians were 掴むd, the Obama 行政 said families would not be 起訴するd for trying to 解放する／自由な their loved ones.
"It's a 衝突 between a very personal 願望（する） to 解放する／自由な these people, these innocent people, and the 法律 of the land," said Diane Foley, who 直面するd a 類似の 窮地 when her son James was kidnapped by IS 極端論者s. James Foley was 最終的に killed, like the Christians, wearing an orange jumpsuit and ひさまづくing before a ビデオ camera.
"The captors are very aware of what a 堅い 状況／情勢 that they put people and countries in, and they're loving it," said Diane Foley, who has 始める，決める up a 創立／基礎 in her son's 指名する to 支持する for families of 人質s, better communication between 政府s, and a more 一貫した 政府 政策.
The 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and Britain 辞退する to 支払う／賃金 身代金s, while some European 政府s routinely 支払う／賃金 身代金s. Foley said she learned only much later that her son and others had been held along with Europeans who were 解放する／自由なd in 交流 for money.
But the Assyrians had no 政府 to speak for them. 仲買人d almost 排他的に by the bishop Athneil, 交渉s for the 捕虜 Christians 再開するd in 中央の-落ちる. By then, the remaining 人質s had been moved to Raqqa, the 資本／首都 of IS's self-styled caliphate. The money went into a bank account in Irbil, Iraq, under the 指名する of the Assyrian Church of the East.
Thirty-seven Assyrians were 解放する／自由なd on Nov. 7, and from then, the 解放（する）s took place every few weeks into the new year.
Each time, the 解放する／自由なd 捕虜s were put on buses. IS then emailed their 指名するs to the 交渉者s.
On Feb. 22, 2016, a final 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 43 指名するs was emailed to the bishop. The last 捕虜 Christians from the Khabur River valley were on their way out. But when the bus arrived in Hassakeh, only 42 人質s were on board ― 16-year-old Maryam David Talya wasn't there.
She had been pulled off the bus at the last 検問所 by an IS guard who 手配中の，お尋ね者 her for himself, Kanoun said. On 復活祭 Sunday, after another agonizing month of 交渉s, Maryam つまずくd into the 武器 of her waiting parents in Hassakeh.
How much was 最終的に paid to 解放する／自由な the Khabur Christians remains a mystery. The bishop, the only person with a 十分な accounting, 拒絶する／低下するd to speak to The Associated 圧力（をかける）.
Those 伴う／関わるd give him credit for saving the lives not just of the 人質s but those of hundreds of other Assyrians who have left in hopes of building a better life outside the war zone. The Khabur valley has been all but emptied of its Christians.
"Honestly, this man should go 負かす／撃墜する as a saint, the things that he's done, the sacrifices he's made to help these people," Nissan said. "He's 辞退するing to leave Syria until all his flock is 安全な・保証するd."
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Maha Assabaloni, and Associated 圧力（をかける） 特派員s Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Peter Banda in Burbank, California, 与える／捧げるd to this 報告（する）／憶測.
A 地図／計画する shows the string of Assyrian Christian villages attacked by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group along northern Syria?s Khabur River in this でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる 得る，とらえる from ?Silence After the 嵐／襲撃する,? a 文書の about the villages by Assyrian filmmaker Sargon Saadi. The villages now stand 事実上 砂漠d after the 交戦的なs attacked in February 2015, taking more than 200 men, women and children 捕虜 and 運動ing out the 残り／休憩（する）, all members of a community that traces its 遺産 支援する to the beginnings of Christianity. (Sargon Saadi 経由で AP)
Assyrian filmmaker Sargon Saadi discusses his film, ``Silence After the 嵐／襲撃する,?? at his apartment in Burbank, California, in this Nov. 16, 2016 photo taken from ビデオ . Saadi traveled to Syria?s Khabur River valley in March 2015 to 文書 Assyrian Christian villages attacked by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group a month earlier. He used to play with friends and family in some of the villages when he was a child. The villages are now nearly 砂漠d since the attack in which the 交戦的なs took 捕虜 226 people. (AP Photo 経由で AP ビデオ)
Assyrian Christian bishop 損なう Afram Athneil, 権利, 迎える／歓迎するs Maryam David Thalya after her 解放（する） from more than a year of 捕らわれた by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in this March 27, 2016 photo from the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh. Thalya was the last to be 解放する／自由なd from 226 Assyrians 逮捕（する）d by the 交戦的なs when they overran Assyrian Christian villages in northern Syria. Working 内密に, Athneil 交渉するd with the 交戦的なs as the Assyrian diaspora 世界的な 寄付するd money for 身代金s. In the end, millions of dollars ended up in IS pockets, but the 人質s were 解放する／自由なd. (Assyrian Church of the East Reli ef Organization 経由で AP ビデオ)
A 生き残るing Assyrian Christian church stands in the northern Syrian village of Um Waghafa in this image from the 文書の ?Silence After the 嵐／襲撃する,? 発射 in March 2015. The village is one of more than 30 Assyrian villages that are now 事実上 砂漠d since Islamic 明言する／公表する group 交戦的なs attacks in February 2015, taking more than 200 居住（者）s 人質 and 運動ing out the 残り／休憩（する）. The attack 誘発するd a year of secret 交渉s by an Assyrian bishop and fundraising by the Assyrian community 世界的な that 結局 bought the 捕虜s? freedom. (Sargon Saadi 経由で AP)
Charli Kanoun, an Assyrian entrepreneur raised in Germany, 提起する／ポーズをとるs in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo, in Saarlouis, Germany. Kanoun was part of the a year-long （選挙などの）運動をする by the Assyrian Christian diaspora 世界的な to 解放する／自由な 226 members of the community taken 人質 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in Syria in February 2015. Kanoun 説得するd the German 政府 to 受託する the first （製品，工事材料の）一回分 of 21 人質s 解放する／自由なd. Then he 始める，決める to fundraising. ?Everyone 与える／捧げるd; the church opened an account in Irbil, Iraq, and 発表するd it on the internet so everyone can 寄付する,? Kanoun said. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Sherineh Marza, 権利, and Zammo Marza stand at the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of Marza Marza in Saarlouis, Germany, in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. The Marza family were の中で 226 Assyrian Christians taken 捕虜 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in a February 2015 attack on their villages in Syria?s Khabur River valley. Marza Marza died earlier this year, months after the family had been 解放する／自由なd and made it to Germany. The attack 誘発するd a year of secret 交渉s by a bishop in Syria and fundraising by the Assyrian community 世界的な that 結局 bought the 捕虜s? freedom. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Abdo Marza, an Assyrian Christian once taken 捕虜 by the Islamic Stat e group, 提起する／ポーズをとるs for a portrait in Saarlouis, Germany in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. After the 交戦的なs 逮捕（する）d 226 Assyrians in Syria in 早期に 2015, Marza volunteered to 配達する the 身代金 公式文書，認める to a bishop and then return 支援する into 捕らわれた _ because his young daughter was also の中で the 捕虜s. His bravery won his and his daughter?s freedom and was the first link in a chain that led to a year-long, 世界的な （選挙などの）運動をする の中で the Assyrian diaspora to raise millions of dollars to buy the remaining 捕虜s? 解放（する）. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Zammo Marza, Abdo Marza, Charli Kanoun and Sherineh Marza, from left, stand at the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of Marza Marza in Saarlouis, Germany in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. The Marza family were の中で 226 Assyrian Christians taken 捕虜 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in a February 2015 attack on their villages in northern Syria. Kanoun, an Assyrian entrepreneur in Germany, was part of the a year-long （選挙などの）運動をする by the Assyrian diaspora 世界的な that raised millions of dollars in 身代金 to 勝利，勝つ the 捕虜s? 解放（する）. Marza Marza died earlier this year, months after the family had been 解放する／自由なd and made it to Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Zammo Marza, Sherineh Marza, Charli Kanoun and Abdo Marza, from 権利, stand at the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of Marza Marza in Saarlouis, Germany in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. The Marza family were の中で 226 Assyrian Christians taken 捕虜 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in a February 2015 attack on their villages in northern Syria. Members of the Assyrian diaspora, 含むing Kanoun, led a year-long （選挙などの）運動をする to raise 身代金 money that in the end 後継するd in winning the 捕虜s? freedom but put millions of dollars in IS pockets. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Sherineh Marza, Zammo Marza, Charli Kanoun and Abdo Marza, from left, go to the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of Marza Marza in Saarlouis, Germany in this Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 photo. The Marza family were の中で 226 Assyrian Christians taken 捕虜 by the Islamic 明言する／公表する group in a February 2015 attack on their villages in northern Syria. It took a year to 解放する／自由な the 人質s, and only after three were killed and millions of dollars gathered by the Assyrian diaspora 世界的な was paid to the 交戦的なs. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
