Lebanon – National News Agency, April 22, 2025
A statement was issued by the family of Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim and the international committee following up on his abduction on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the kidnapping of Bishops Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi. In the statement, they called on everyone who has any word or information to speak out and act, declaring that “silence is betrayal.”
The statement read:
“Dear brothers and sisters in humanity,
Twelve years have passed. The absence is bitter, the pain persists, and the wound remains open.
On this day, April 22, 2013, we were robbed of a prophetic voice, a radiant light was extinguished, and a faithful shepherd who carried the cross of peace through the storm of Golgotha was abducted — Bishop Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, Archbishop of Aleppo and its surroundings for the Syriac Orthodox Church.
He was not just a clergyman who disappeared — he represented a people’s cause, a nation’s conscience, and the voice of a Church. His case is a wound in the side of Middle Eastern Christians, a cry that will not be silenced, a call that will not be extinguished.
We will not forget. We will not rest. We will not be silent.”
The statement continued:
“No matter how long it takes, no matter how much ambiguity surrounds it, this case will not be closed and its file will not be shelved until the full truth is known. We do not accept half-stories or time-wasting reassurances.
Those who know Bishop Yohanna know that courage and hope were not slogans for him — they were a way of life. He taught us to speak the truth no matter the cost and to plant hope in a land worn out by despair.”
