Alerts in Iraq
New crackdown on Iraqi academic elite
Alert
Date: 21 April 2011
Iraqi academics have been once again the target of violent attacks by insurgencies, starting a new wave of assassinations several months ago, United Press International reported on 11 April.
Schools and Universities Deserted for Fear of Violence
Alert
Date: 15 March 2007
A joint study by the Iraqi Ministry of Education and UNICEF informes that in Iraq, schools and universities are likely to continue emptying throughout 2007 if there is no let up to current levels of violence and the displacement it causes. Roger Wright, UNICEF representative for Iraq, said: “Iraq’s education system needs a great deal more investment and attention to survive this time of crisis”.
Alert
Date: 04 December 2006
Dr Haussain Al Kafaji, a lecturer of chemistry in Babylon University- Iraq, was arrested in a joint operation by the US/ Scorpion unit - Iraqi special forces. The Brussels Tribunal is concerned by the treatment that Dr Al Kafaji could receive while under detention by the Scorpion special forces unit, it reports that their detainees rarely ever resurface unharmed if not killed and mutilated bodies dumped in the rubbish tips.
Universities Closed, Academic Personnel Kidnapped, Professors Killed
Action Alert
Date: 14 November 2006
The Iraqi Higher Education Minister, Abed Theyab, has ordered the closure of all universities in Baghdad the 13 November 2006. This followed the kidnapping on the same day of up to 150 staff and visitors in the Ministry of Higher Education’s scientific research directorate in the downtown Karradah district of Baghdad.
Head of University Professors’ Union Killed Outside His Home
Alert
Date: 03 November 2006
The head of the University Professors' Union (UPUI), Essam al-Rawi, was shot and killed outside his Baghdad home as he left for work at the city's university on 30 October 2006. According to the Guardian newspaper, Dr al-Rawi's was in his car, accompanied by two bodyguards, when three gunmen blocked the road with their car and sprayed his vehicle with machine gun fire.
"Education here is a complete shambles"
Alert
Date: 05 October 2006
‘Education here is a complete shambles. Professors are leaving, and the situation - the closed roads and bridges - means that both students and teachers find it difficult to get in for classes. In some departments in my institute attendance is down to a third. In others we have instances of no students turning up at all’ this statement was made to a Guardian journalist by a 60-year-old science professor in Iraq.
"Assassins are targeting university professors in a coordinated liquidation process"
Alert
Date: 19 June 2006
Nahi Yousif Yaseen, director general of the Iraqi Center for Cancer and Medical Genetics Research in Baghdad states: "We feel there's a campaign to kill every scientist in Iraq”. Since March 2003 hundreds of academics have been killed in Iraq. It was reported (see related NEAR Alerts) that 296 members of education staff were killed in 2005 alone.
Almost 300 academic staff killed in 2005
Alert
Date: 02 March 2006
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.
Iraqi Scientist Freed from US Detention
Alert Update
Date: 20 December 2005
Dr. Huda Ammash, US-educated Iraqi scientist, has been released from US custody, the Times reported on 20 December 2010.
IRAQ Universities in Desperate Need of Equipment
Alert
Date: 09 October 2005
The United Nation’s office for the coordination of human affairs informs that university laboratories in Iraq are in desperate need of equipment and materials essential to teach science subjects. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: According to teaching staff, Iraq’s university laboratories suffered heavy damage during the US invasion two years ago and are desperately short of essential equipment and chemicals needed to teach medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and several science subjects.
Iraqi scientist being held without charges or trial
Action Alert
Date: 11 August 2005
In May 2003, Dr. Huda Ammash, at the time, number 53 on the administration’s list of 55 most wanted Iraqi officials, turned herself in to U.S. authorities. Although she has neither been charged with a crime nor brought to trial, the Iraqi scientist remains in prison today, accused by the U.S. government of being the head of Saddam Hussein’s biowarfare program – a program of which no evidence has been found.
"Iraq's Education Systems Denies Children Education"
Alert
Date: 18 October 2004
“The current [education] system [in Iraq] is effectively denying children a decent education, and the poor quality of the learning environment delivers a major blow to children” declared the UNICEF Iraq representative, Roger Wright. These declaration accompany the first comprehensive study on the condition of schools in post-conflict Iraq conducted by the Iraq Ministry of Education with the help of UNICEF.
Alert
Date: 15 September 2004
Imam Abdul-Munim Younis, head of the translation department at Mosul University's College of Arts, was shot dead by gunmen on 28 August while driving to work. She was not the first Iraqi intellectual to have been targetted by unkown assailants. More than 250 academics have been killed in the country since the American occupation began according to the Iraqi Union of University Lecturers.
Academic killed in northern Iraq
Alert
Date: 23 June 2004
Unknown assailants have killed an Iraqi lecturer and her husband in the northern city of Mosul. Layla Saad, dean of law at Mosul University, was shot on her doorstep and had her throat cut, police said. Relatives said she had received threats but refused to hire security guards. A motive for the killings is not known.
Students Globally Protest for Peace
Alert
Date: 25 March 2003
Several media sources have reported that since the start of the conflict in Iraq, 19 March 2003, for the last week students from around the world have taken to the streets to protest against war and, in some cases, have faced violent responses form the authorities. In the latest of a series of anti-war protests worldwide, police in Germany turned water cannons on school students outside the US consulate in Hamburg.