Iraqi Mandaeans fear extinction
The Mandaean community in Iraq is dwindling to such low numbers that its members fear extinction.
Between 2003 and 2019, 90% of the Mandaean religious minority left Iraq, according to Sattar Jabbar Helou, who heads the sect worldwide. This migration has had a profound impact on the Mandaean community in Iraq.
Neglected by the Iraqi government and even the international community, "the UN, the US and the EU rarely show concern for the future of the Mandaean minority, while unfairly focusing on the challenges facing Christians and Yazidis,” said Nadia Fadel Maghamiss, director of the Divan for Endowment of Mandaeans in Iraq.
Mandaeans fear the implications of such statistics on their dwindling community in Iraq. They fear extinction and political marginalization, as political demands in Iraq are often linked to demographics.
Mazen Nayef, the head of the Mandaean sect in Basra, told Al-Monitor that the province of Basra is now home to the most Mandaeans in Iraq. Even in the eastern province of Maysan, which borders Iran and has been a historical Mandaean stronghold, numbers have decreased. The Mandaean population in Baghdad has decreased since the US invasion in 2003, although two-thirds of Mandaeans had settled in the city since the 1960s.
