Global outrage at damaged statues
Print Edition
A video of jihadists in Iraq gleefully smashing ancient statues to pieces with sledgehammers sparked global outrage and fears yesterday that more of the world’s oldest heritage will be destroyed.
The destruction of priceless Assyrian and other artefacts from the main museum and an archeological site in the northern city of Mosul drew comparisons with the 2001 dynamiting of the Bamiyan buddhas in Afghanistan.
Archaeologists and heritage experts called for urgent action to protect the remains of some of the oldest civilizations in the world and the UN cultural agency demanded an emergency meeting of the Security Council.
“This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy — this is also a security issue as it fuels sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq,” UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said.
French President Francois Hollande joined the chorus of condemnation, saying: “What the terrorists want to do is destroy all of humanity.”
The Islamic State group has controlled Iraq’s second city since June last year and has destroyed several historical and cultural sites across the country, including Muslim shrines.
In the jihadists’ extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols and shrines are a material corruption of the purity of the early Muslim faith and amount to recognizing other objects of worship than God.
Their views, however, are marginal and most clerics, even those who promote a rigorist Islam, argue that what were idols in the days of the Prophet Mohammed are now part of cultural heritage.
A bearded militant talking to the camera in the video released on Thursday argues that the destruction happening behind him is a repeat of when Prophet Mohammed destroyed statues of idols in Mecca almost 1,400 years ago.
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