The legal confrontation to sabotage the Iraqi cultural monuments and religious sites and ways to protect them according to Iraqi law

This message has dealt with the study of the legal organization of the crime of sabotaging antiquities and religious sites in Iraq, as we sought through it to shed light on this crime as it is one of the important topics at the present time because its perpetration is widespread in many countries of the world, especially in Iraq on the one hand, and on the other hand the importance of antiquities Cultural as a civilized and human heritage, as well as religious places as a religious heritage, whether at the local or international level in terms of what states and international and regional organizations concerned with preserving and maintaining them, such as the efforts made by UNESCO, as well as their importance at the national level as a cultural and material value, as well as what places constitute Religious as the spiritual values ​​of the peoples, and these places are no less important than protecting the material human being because of the connection of these places with the person because they are part of his cultural and intellectual entity. Needless to mention, religious sites are subject in peacetime to the general rules contained in internal constitutions. Usually the state gives its people freedom to practice worship and beliefs in these places. Moreover, most of these places are part of the cultural heritage of peoples.

  In light of this, we divided this study into three chapters, the first chapter of which came under the title (Faculties and concepts of what sabotage cultural antiquities and the concept of religious places in Iraq) and divided it into three topics. In the first section we dealt with the concept of sabotaging cultural antiquities. In the second topic, the concept of religious places and the criteria adopted in the classification of religious holy sites in Iraq. In the third topic, the historical rooting of cultural monuments and religious sites in Iraq.

While the title of the second chapter of the study was (Characteristics of the crime of sabotaging cultural antiquities and its nature), we divided this chapter into two sections, the first section of which included the characteristics of the crime of sabotaging cultural antiquities. The second topic also included the subjectivity of sabotaging cultural monuments.

As for the third and final chapter, it came under the title (Constitutional texts guaranteeing the protection of religious places in Iraq), which we discussed in the first section of it the constitutional basis for protecting religious sites in Iraq. In the second topic, we dealt with the applications of criminal protection for religious sites in Iraq.

We concluded this study with a set of findings and recommendations.