UN:

Attack on Mosul Historical Mosque May Amount to War Crime

Rasa - The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday condemned the destruction of the leaning al-Hadba minaret that towered over Mosul for 850 years and the laying to ruins of the Grand al-Nuri Mosque, demolished by retreating ISIL militants.

News ID: 430542

Date: 23 June 2017 - 23:51

RNA - OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the attacks could amount to a war crime, NRT reported.

“The International Humanitarian Law clearly prohibits such attacks, and perpetrators who target these objects while being aware of their religious and historical character may be held accountable for war crimes, as in the ground-breaking Timbuktu case at the International Criminal Court,” Shamdasani said.

The demolition came on Wednesday night as Iraqi forces closed in on the mosque, which carried enormous symbolic importance for ISIL.

It was there that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" as militants seized swathes of Syria and Iraq. He proclaimed himself the caliph from the mosque's pulpit.

The militants appear to have chosen to blow up the mosque rather than see their flag torn down by Iraqi forces battling through the maze of narrow alleys and streets of the Old City, the last district of Mosul still under the control of ISIL.

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