Skip to main content
Unesco - Iraq

Unesco condemns Nimrud destruction

The Islamic State (IS) armed group’s destruction of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud is a war crime, the head of the UN’s cultural arm, Unesco, said at its Paris headquarters on Friday. Iraq’s government said that IS members bulldozed the 3,000-year-old site after noon prayers on Thursday.

A Shia-Muslim fighter in the town of Hamrin in Iraq's Salahuddin province
A Shia-Muslim fighter in the town of Hamrin in Iraq's Salahuddin province Reuters
Advertising

"I condemn with the strongest force the destruction of the site at Nimrud," Irina Bokova said in a statement.

She said she had already spoken to the heads of the UN Security Council and International Criminal Court on the issue.

"We cannot remain silent,” the statement declared. “The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime. I call on all political and religious leaders in the region to stand up and remind everyone that there is absolutely no political or religious justification for the destruction of humanity's cultural heritage."

Unesco will do “whatever is needed to document and protect the heritage of Iraq and lead the fight against the illicit traffic of cultural artefacts, which directly contributes to the financing of terrorism," said Bokova. "At stake is the survival of the Iraqi culture and society."

IS believes that statues and tombs encourage “idolatry” and have destroyed a number of historic artefacts and buildings.

Nimrud, which was founded 3,300 years ago, was the capital of the ancient Assyrian empire.

It is on the river Tigris, 30 kilometres from Mosul, the northern Iraqi city that IS captured last June.
 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.