
Iraq has demolished a building which was used by ISIS to throw gay men to their deaths.

The National Insurance Company building in Mosul was once a celebrated icon of Iraqi architecture but was put to sinister use by the Islamist terror group.

The building had been ravaged by the months-long fight to oust IS from Mosul, which ended in the summer of 2017, and is now being cleared away by Iraqi authorities.

Labourers and bulldozers were today removing rubble and twisted metal from the gutted ruins of the building in the west of the city.

An Iraqi climbs up the rubble of the seven-storey building in Mosul used by the Islamic State group to throw men accused of being gay to their deaths

The National Insurance Company building in Mosul, pictured before it was put to use by ISIS, was once a celebrated icon of Iraqi architecture

This disturbing photograph - believed to have been taken in Mosul - shows a gay man being dangled over the edge of the high building by his ankles before being dropped

The National Insurance Company building was designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s.

It had been regarded as a prime example of modern Iraqi design. It featured rows of slim archways and projected windows reminiscent of Iraq's famous 'shanasheel'.

But it became notorious under ISIS, which used the seven-storey structure to kill young men it said had violated Islamic law by being gay.

Pictures showed jihadists apparently dangling the accused men off the edge of the building by their ankles before dropping them to their deaths.

'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 nearby Old City, told AFP.

'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.'

An Iraqi pushes his cart past the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey building which was badly damaged in the war with ISIS

Iraqis scavenge for metal from the rubble of the destroyed building which was once considered an icon of Iraqi architecture

He said discussions were ongoing to demolish other buildings damaged in the fighting, including Mosul's branch of the central bank and the Nineveh governorate.

Last year, Iraqi cellist and conductor Karim Wasfi played a concert in front of what remained of the NIC building as part of a peace initiative for the city.

Now, about a month after demolition work began, only three floors remain. Chunks of concrete and metal wires hang off its edges, grazing the growing mounds of rubble around it.

Its destruction has divided Moslawis.

'This building is extremely important architecturally as it's one of the modern icons of the city and of its recent history,' said resident Abu Mahmud, 33.

'So the relevant authorities should have kept it this way, as a witness to the ugliness of Daesh's crimes against Mosul,' he told AFP, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

But Samira Ali, another resident, disagreed.

People in Mosul sit by the ruins of the building. Local residents are divided over the decision to demolish the building designed by Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s

The wreckage of the building is seen yesterday after it was badly damaged during the battle for Mosul and then demolished by Iraqi authorities

An Iraqi stands on the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building which ISIS used as a site for executions

'I hope this building is removed and that a garden or museum is erected in its place,' she told AFP.

'It's a terrifying sight. It reminds me of the death penalty Daesh would mete out against innocent people by throwing them off the roof.'

Ghada Rzouki, an architecture professor at the University of Baghdad, said the NIC building represents Iraq's 'age of modernity' but was superceded by Mosul's other cultural gems.

'I was born in Mosul. In my view, there are many other religious and heritage sites that no one is paying attention to but which should be protected,' she said.

Another local official told AFP a new government building would likely be erected on the same plot of land but that there had been no plans to set up a memorial to victims of IS crimes there.

The NIC building lies near Mosul's Old City, which was ravaged by fighting and where the UN's heritage agency UNESCO is undertaking some restoration work.

Last month, UNESCO and Iraqi religious leaders laid the cornerstone to rebuild Mosul's Al-Nuri mosque and adjacent leaning minaret, two of the city's most celebrated emblems.

Two Iraqi metal collectors pose for a picture in front of the rubble of the terror group's execution site

An Iraqi man scavenges for metal from the rubble, as authorities get to work demolishing the ruined 1960s building in Mosul

Iraqis climb up the rubble of the destroyed seven-storey Chadirji Building, designed by celebrated Iraqi architect Rifat Chadirji in the 1960s