BAGHDAD — When the statue of the poet Abu Nuwas was vandalized on July 5, it sparked a new round of intense political and social conflict in Iraq between conservative forces represented by some political parties and religious currents and secular forces that reject religious and political currents' interference in citizens’ civil choices.

Vandalizing the statue hit a certain cultural and social nerve, as many of Iraq’s cultural elites believe there is a systematic plan to remove the cultural monuments and memorials for religious and political reasons after monuments began to be taken down in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities in 2003. Statues of the Iraqi soldiers who fought in the war with Iran were shattered in Basra on May 6, 2003.

Abu Nuwas lived in Baghdad and died in the year 814 CE. He is remembered as shameless and insolent, but also for the creativity, use of language and selection of topics in his innovative poetry. Islamists continue to regard Abu Nuwas as one of their top examples of immorality.

In 1972, Iraqi sculptor Ismail Fattah al-Turk made the bronze statue of Abu Nuwas holding a glass of wine on a 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) base, surrounded by bronze bas-relief that represents the events of the poet's life.