Crimes against Civilization (op-ed)

Jonah and the whale is a popular bible story. It’s a favorite story of mine to debunk biblical literalism. (For you literalist I’ll correct the intro: Jonah and the great fish…) So imagine my astonishment when I discovered in Iraq there was a Sunni mosque called The Mosque of The Prophet Yunus -- Arabic for Jonah -- and inside the mosque was Jonah’s tomb. 
 

Now imagine my shock when I learned Jonah’s burial site was located in Mosul, the territory controlled by the Islamic group ISIS who are known for their campaign against idolatry which consists of cultural cleansing. 
 

As you probably imagined ISIS destroyed the tomb, along with the Mosul Museum (ISIS militants used sledged hammers to smash stone sculptures and other centuries-old artifacts.), and the Mosul Library (They burned thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the Ottoman Empire.) The UNESCO called the book burning, “One of the most devastating acts of destruction of a library collection in human history.”

The international community watched in horror. (Reminiscent of Afghanistan -- 2001 -- when the Taliban blew up giant Buddha statues dating back to the sixth century.) And the international community wondered why? A writer for The Observer answered, “ISIS is not destroying a practiced religion; it is destroying history … It has decided that no world outside of their interpretation of Islam can or should exist … ISIS is not simply eradicating all that contradicts with its faith: It is eliminating all that is inconsistent with its worldview.”

Is this assault on antiquity only being carried out by ISIS militants in their carved out corner of the Middle East or has these atrocities happened in other regions?

The African Republic of Mali is named after the Mali Empire (1230-1600). It’s famous for King Mansa Musa who passed out gold on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Timbuktu the great center of Islamic scholarship. In 2012 a spokesman for an Islamic faction linked to Al Qaeda in Mali proclaimed, “The destruction [of idols] is a divine order.” And they tore down centuries-old mausoleums of Muslim holy men in Timbuktu. The International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor suggested the destruction should be considered war crimes.

Recently the African country of Niger handed over an Islamic militant to the International Criminal Court. His name is Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi. He is the first person ever to be detained for wrecking cultural heritage. And this is the first time the International Criminal Court will examine the destruction of religious sites as a war crime. The head of UNESCO said the case breaks new ground “for the protection of humanity’s shared cultural heritage and values.” And it could set a precedent that might lead to the prosecution of ISIS militants for war crimes. 

 

But what exactly are war crimes? Definition: Serious violation of laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility such as intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torture, rape, wantonly destroying property…

But if the degree of a crime depends on motive, and these individuals are motivated by a puritanical ideology that wants to liquidate the earth of infidels and their idols to create a world in the image of medieval Islam then detaining the first man driven by this motive for wrecking cultural heritage sounds like a misdemeanor.

One Human Rights organization stated, “Destruction of historic and religious sites is a serious affront to humanity … However, a focus solely on cultural damage should not overshadow horrific violence against people, especially when both types were perpetrated simultaneously by the same people.” 
 

Earlier this year Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi and fourteen others had criminal complaints filed against them for rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage. 

Maybe there should be a new charge of crimes against civilization.

First published by the New Pittsburgh Courier 10/14/15