Outrage over demolition of 300-year-old minaret in Iraq

The demolition of a 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in southern Iraq final week to make method for a street extension has drawn outrage from locals and heritage authorities.

The toppling of the Siraji minaret in Basra on 14 July is yet one more instance of the destruction of Iraqi cultural historical past, those that opposed the demolition say. Final week’s demolition recollects the destiny of the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul, for which locals shaped a human chain to guard the hadba minaret—a civic landmark for hundreds of years—when the mosque was first occupied by ISIS, and which was destroyed in 2017.

However the historic, 11-metre-high minaret in Basra, with its brown mud brick spire and turquoise ornamentation, was demolished not by an extremist group however by the governor of Basra, Assad Al Eidani.

Al Eidani, who personally oversaw the demolition at daybreak on what was coincidentally Iraqi Republic Day, claimed that it was within the identify of public security because the minaret was in peril of falling. He added that the demolition was a crucial step for street enlargement in a rising metropolis with visitors jams. However each the Sunni waqf (endowment) who personal the land and the mosque, in addition to officers from SBAH (the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage) say that the demolition violated a long-standing settlement with the Basran authorities to rearrange a protected elimination of the historic minaret and embrace it in a brand new mosque.

Whereas Mohammed Munla, the pinnacle of Basra’s Sunni endowment, was fired on 16 July after publicly criticising the demolition, the director of SBAH, Laith Majid Hussein, stays in place. He tells The Artwork Newspaper: “We’re shocked by this motion. The minaret was of nice significance. It was in excellent situation and one of many few intact minarets of its period.” It was additionally one of many few historic Sunni mosques in Basra and a particular place for Eid gatherings.

Whereas Hussein talked about “authorized motion” in opposition to the Basran governate for the demolition, as did Minister of Tradition Ahmed Fadak al Badrani, he stated that “the precedence now’s to try to restore the remnants of the minaret.” To that finish, the rubble of the minaret is in protected protecting however stays on the positioning of the mosque—initially in-built 1727 however reconstructed within the Eighties. SBAH, he says, is consulting worldwide consultants on finest practices for resurrecting the beloved Basran landmark.

Hussein cited the reconstruction of the Abbasid period minaret of Anah within the Anbar province for example of what’s doable. Within the mid Eighties, when it was threatened by a number of new dams alongside the Euphrates initiated by the then-president Saddam Hussein,a crew of consultants dismantled the minaret into 28 items and relocated it to a different web site. It was destroyed in an explosion by unknown perpetrators that many Sunni leaders believed to be the work of Shiah militias intent on destroying cultural heritage constructed through the Sunni dynasties, together with the statue of Caliph Mansur in Baghdad and the highest of the al Malwiya minaret in Samarra. In 2013, the tower was rebuilt based mostly on the architectural blueprint preserved by the ministry of tourism however was subsequently destroyed by ISIS in 2016.

Al Eidani, the son of a distinguished native sheikh who fled to Iran after collaborating within the 1991 Shiah rebellion, was arrested upon his return to Iraq after which turned a key participant within the 2003 de-Ba’athification purges that disproportionately affected Sunnis, has loved current reputation after Iraq’s success within the Arabian Gulf Cup soccer match. With upcoming provincial elections in a number of months and an outpouring of shock on the minaret demolition on social media, his political destiny stays unsure. Whether or not the demolition of the minaret was motivated by sectarian politics or actual property and infrastructure growth is unclear, as in Iraq these elements are sometimes intertwined.

In the meantime, Hussein affirms that despite many challenges, “SBAH is on a mission to protect our heritage.” However generally, he says, “it looks as if Mission Unimaginable”.