Video clips of the demolition were spread on social media platforms in Iraq, which sparked a wave of popular anger, while the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani, issued a statement denouncing the demolition of the mosque.
Commenting on the incident, Badrani said:
- At a time when we affirm the keenness of the government and people of the State of Iraq to build, advance, and progress at all levels, we reject, prevent, and prevent prejudice to any building that bears a heritage or archaeological feature, whether religious or civil, as it is not considered the property of an endowment, ministry, authority, or governorate. Rather, it belongs to the cultural and heritage history of Iraq.
- We will take legal measures to protect the great cultural heritage against any administrative or personal transgression that encourages and acts to cause harm intentionally or spontaneously, especially the incident of the demolition of the lighthouse of the Seraji Mosque.
- We call on the Sunni and Shiite endowments to intervene, stand firm, and punish their affiliates, in case they are allowed to transgress or falsify historical facts.
While the governor of Basra, Asaad Al-Eidani, revealed in press statements that the removal mechanisms began the process of demolishing and removing the minaret of the Al-Siraji Mosque, after an agreement was reached between the Basra government and the director of the Sunni Endowment after his recent visit to the province.
He added that the local government undertook the construction of the lighthouse again, and the expansion of the mosque in a manner befitting its name and history, and commensurate with the urban movement taking place in the governorate.
Al-Eidani indicated that “the removal process took place in coordination with the Sunni Endowment, and all the rubble will be removed, the land will be leveled, and the mosque will be rebuilt with high specifications, worthy of all worshipers, and with the approval of the Sunni Endowment.”
The local official pointed out that “the aim of the demolition is to complete the expansion of the street and to meet the citizens’ demands.”
Sunni endowment reaction
However, the Sunni Endowment denied, in a statement, its relationship to the procedures for demolishing the mosque’s minaret in this way, stressing that the procedures were discussed “in more than one meeting of the Supreme Endowment Council about a year ago and perhaps more, after the responsible authorities in Basra submitted more than one request confirming that the minaret is placed in the width of the street.” Traffic is completely blocked.”
The endowment indicated that “the agreement stipulated that the lighthouse be cut, dismantled, and moved in a way to preserve and maintain the antiquities, respect its place in the hearts of the people, and restore it to its natural state.”
He stressed the need to “respect the endowments, mosques and their minarets, especially the historical and archaeological ones.”
And due to the confusion surrounding his approval of the demolition process, the Sunni Endowment Office decided, on Sunday, to relieve the director of the endowments in the southern region of his post.
Clarification from the Ministry of Culture
A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Al-Alaywi, said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”:
- We, as a ministry, received the news of the demolition of the Al-Sarraji minaret and the demolition of the mosque successively, with great regret, and we expressed our condemnation of this act, which led to the demolition of a 300-year-old minaret.
- We directed, through the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage, and specifically the Basra Antiquities Inspectorate, a set of official correspondences to the Governorate Office and the Sunni Endowment Office, describing that the land occupied by the mosque is for the Sunni Endowment.
- We put forward a set of proposals subject to the Iraqi Antiquities Law, which requires all parties not to prejudice heritage buildings and archaeological sites, with the need to preserve the lighthouse by dismantling it and moving it to the courtyard of the mosque and reinstalling it according to the specifications that experts work according to.
- Then, since last February, we have been in contact with the concerned authorities in Basra on this issue, but we were surprised and greatly shocked by the demolition of the minaret and the removal of the mosque under the supervision of the local government in Basra Governorate.
- The matter sparked widespread condemnation and condemnation by the parliament and its cultural committee, and those interested in cultural and heritage affairs, in addition to the denunciation of the Sunni Endowment Office through an official statement, confirming its disagreement with the demolition of the mosque and its heritage minaret, as is rumored.
- In any case, this unfortunate act is not justified, as the countries of the world are keen to protect and take care of their heritage buildings, no matter how short their lifespan is. However, what happened with the Al-Siraji Mosque is a direct and declared demolition, which affects the heritage and cultural identity of Iraq.
- Voices are being raised to hold those responsible and negligent accountable, and there are demands from the Parliamentary Committee for Culture to Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani and the Supreme Judicial Council to investigate what happened and hold accountable those who caused the demolition of the lighthouse and the removal of the mosque.
- We, as the Ministry of Culture, adopt such a position, and await the punishment of all those who caused the displacement of this site and the abuse of our heritage identity and our culture.
The Al-Siraji Mosque is one of the ancient historical mosques of Iraq, and it was built in 1727 in the Abu Al-Khasib district of Basra, which is famous for its archaeological urban design and its lighthouse, which is a prominent landmark in the province.
The mosque extends over an area of 1,900 square meters, and was restored in the eighties of the twentieth century.
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