Iraqi assassins are being asked to take aim at hundreds of intellectuals whose names appear on a hit list circulating in the country by an unknown group, according to reports on the Science and Development Network’s website, SciDev.Net.
The list’s existence suggests that the ongoing assassination of Iraqi academics is more organised and systematic than previously thought. Leaflets calling for the murder of 461 named individuals were described in an article published last month by the newspaper Az-Zaman.
The United States-based magazine Science reported this week that it has obtained a copy of the list, verified as authentic by several Iraqi scientists. It names scientists, university officials, engineers, doctors and journalists in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
Since the invasion of Iraq in April 2003, the number of attacks on academics has risen steadily. The death toll is difficult to determine, but estimates range from 200 to more than 1 000. The authors of the hit list are unknown. Iraqi investigators are looking at claims that Iranian intelligence agents are involved, reports Science.
Also unknown are the motives for the killings, but religious and political sectarianism appear to be playing a significant role. Former members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party are implicated in the killings as assassins, while some scientists associated with the old regime have been murdered in apparent acts of revenge.
Meanwhile, Sunni militias are targeting Shi’ite academics, and vice versa. Money is certainly a motivating factor behind many attacks, as kidnappers often demand a ransom before they commit a murder, reported the journal Nature this week.
Dlawer Ala’Aldeen, an Iraqi microbiologist at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, told Nature that the insurgency has undermined much-needed university construction efforts ”beyond belief”. More than 2 000 scientists are thought to have fled Iraq. Those staying put are trying to keep the universities open, but the killings — which usually happen on their way to and from work — are unlikely to stop soon.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has called for international solidarity and action to protect the researchers. ”We cannot stand by and watch the custodians of Iraq’s culture and learning be threatened, abducted or murdered,” said the organisation’s director general, Koïchiro Matsuura.
Matsuura said Iraq has a centuries-long tradition of academic excellence. ”By targeting those who hold the keys to Iraq’s reconstruction and development, the perpetrators of this violence are jeopardising the future of Iraq and of democracy,” he said.
The Belgium-based anti-war group Brussels Tribunal has compiled a list of 220 murdered academics and says hundreds more are missing and thousands have been driven into exile. It says nobody has been arrested in connection with the murders.
Malik Alasmar, an Iraqi researcher based at the University of Ghent in Belgium, told SciDev.Net that university students are also being targeted and that thousands of scientists have fled Iraq because of the instability that followed the US-led invasion in 2003. — SciDev.Net