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A Building ISIS Used to Throw Gay Men to Their Deaths Is Reduced to Rubble

A new government building is planned for the spot, but no memorial for the victims of ISIS.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqis scavenge for metal from the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building, designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s, on January 13, 2019, in the city of Mosul. - Authorities in Mosul have begun demolishing a onetime icon of modern Iraqi architecture used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths. Labourers in the city's west could be seen removing rubble and twisted metal from the gutted ruins of the National Insurance Company (NIC). The building was heavily damaged in the months-long fight to oust Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, which ended in the summer of 2017. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images)
By Jeff Taylor
January 15, 2019 / 10:48 AM

A famed building in Mosul that was used for years to throw men suspected of being gay or bisexual to their deaths has been is being demolished by authorities.

The seven-storey architectural landmark was designed in the 1960s by noted Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji, and had served as the home for the National Insurance Company. Fighting to oust ISIS from Mosul has weakened it to the point of it being deemed structurally dangerous.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images

An Iraqi pushes his cart past the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building, designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s, on January 13, 2019, in the city of Mosul. - Authorities in Mosul have begun demolishing a onetime icon of modern Iraqi architecture used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths. Labourers in the city's west could be seen removing rubble and twisted metal from the gutted ruins of the National Insurance Company (NIC). The building was heavily damaged in the months-long fight to oust Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, which ended in the summer of 2017. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images)

"It's prone to collapse because of the rockets, shelling, and explosions that hit it and destroyed large parts of it," Mohammad Jassem, a municipal official representing Mosul's Old City, told Agence France-Presse.

"A committee was formed to study the building and assessed it was no longer viable, and that any restoration at this stage would be futile," he continued, adding other buildings similarly damaged by fighting, like Mosul's branch of the central bank and the Nineveh governorate, might also have to come down.

The demolition process has been going on for a month, and now only three floors remain, surrounded by rubble and bent metal.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqis scavenge for metal from the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building, designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s, on January 13, 2019, in the city of Mosul. - Authorities in Mosul have begun demolishing a onetime icon of modern Iraqi architecture used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths. Labourers in the city's west could be seen removing rubble and twisted metal from the gutted ruins of the National Insurance Company (NIC). The building was heavily damaged in the months-long fight to oust Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, which ended in the summer of 2017. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images)

"This building is extremely important architecturally as it's one of the modern icons of the city and of its recent history," resident Abu Mahmud told AFP. He added that it should remain as "a witness to the ugliness" of the acts committed there by ISIS.

"I hope this building is removed and that a garden or museum is erected in its place," another resident, Samira Ali, added.

She called it "a terrifying sight," and said she couldn't see it without being reminded of the killings ISIS would "mete out against innocent people by throwing them off the roof."

A local official told AFP there were plans for a new government building to be erected on the same plot of land, but that there were no plans to set up a memorial there to victims of ISIS.

ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images

Iraqis scavenge for metal from the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building, designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s, on January 13, 2019, in the city of Mosul. - Authorities in Mosul have begun demolishing a onetime icon of modern Iraqi architecture used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths. Labourers in the city's west could be seen removing rubble and twisted metal from the gutted ruins of the National Insurance Company (NIC). The building was heavily damaged in the months-long fight to oust Islamic State (IS) from Mosul, which ended in the summer of 2017. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images)

ISIS is responsible for the deaths of dozens they accuse of being gay, committing adultery, or for other so-called "morality crimes." In addition to throwing people to their deaths, ISIS has also stoned their victims, as well as committed execution by shooting.

"In the Islamic State, gays are being tracked and killed all the time," Subhi Nahas, a Syrian who fled ISIS, testified before the United Nations in 2015. "At the executions, hundreds of townspeople, including children, cheered jubilantly as [if] at a wedding."

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