Few of the Christian women fleeing to safety in northern Iraq arrived wearing rings in their ears or on their fingers. Fighters of the Islamic State, the self-proclaimed new name of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (isis), the jihadist group that captured Mosul last month, relieved them of just about everything valuable-except their lives. A week ago the Christians in the city were told they had until July 18th to convert to Islam, pay a special tax, leave, or, in the words of a statement by the jiha-dists, they would have "nothing but the sword." But then the jihadists changed their mind: paying the tax was no longer an option. All Christians were told by loudspeaker on July 18th that they all had to leave by the next day-or be killed.
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