Najeeb Michael is a Dominican monk who used to live in the Iraqi city of Mosul. His days at the monastery were spent digitising rare historical manuscripts. Less than a year ago, as the Islamic State group was about to take over Mosul, Najeeb knew that these artefacts would be destroyed if they fell into the jihadists’ hands. He tells us how he managed to smuggle thousands of the precious documents out of the city before fleeing himself. Some of them are now on display in Paris.

Several manuscripts can be seen at the National Archives in Paris until August 24.
Programme prepared by Patrick Lovett and Mariem Lina Fahoum

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