Almost 300 academic staff killed in 2005

Hundreds of academics have been killed in Iraq since March 2003. The Minister of Education (as reported by The Guardian) has stated that 296 members of education staff were killed in 2005 alone. It is reported that Baghdad University alone has suffered the loss of 80 members of staff. Furthermore it appears that more than 2000 academics have left the country, extending a brain drain that started in the ‘90’s.

The Brussel Tribunal on Iraq has made an (incomplete) list of academics killed in the country (please see related URLS) and it urges the UN special rapporteur on summary executions to investigate the matter. The list if composed of victims, both men and women, from all over Iraq, from different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds. Most were vocally opposed to the occupation. Nobody has claimed responsibility for these killings and these crimes have not been investigated by the occupation forces or the interim government.

The Guardian brings the example of Dr Abdullateef al-Mayah: a prominent human rights campaigner and critic of the occupation. He was killed only 12 hours after he had appeared on al-Jazeera TV denouncing the corruption of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

Robert Fisk wrote on The Independent in July 2004: "University staff suspect there is a campaign to strip Iraq of its academics to complete the destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage, which began when America entered Baghdad”, it seems that nothing has changed since.


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