The B''Russell''s Tribunal refers both to a series of hearings taking place in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, April 14–17, 2004, as part of the World Tribunal on Iraq, and to the group of people who organised these hearings.

Claim of assassination campaign against Iraqi academics

In January 2006, the B''Russell''s Tribunal distributed a statement (as part of a petition) supporting

Robert Fisk Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...

's earlier, July 14, 2004, statement that "University staff suspect that there is a campaign to strip Iraq of its academics, to complete the destruction of Iraq's cultural identity which began when the American army entered Baghdad." The B''Russell''s Tribunal claimed that

violence against academics in post-invasion Iraq Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iraqi academics have frequently been threatened with violence, kidnapped, or murdered. Although it is impossible to determine the exact scale of the violence and intimidation, the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education r ...

amounts to a systematic campaign to liquidate Iraqi

academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, with the assassination of over 250 academics and disappearance of hundreds of others, was occurring. Combined with Iraqi academics leaving the country due to fear for their safety, the claim is that the Iraqi academic community was being literally destroyed, and that {{As of, 2006, lc=on, the campaign has not stopped. While

cited some hypotheses of the groups behind the killings, the B''Russell''s Tribunal claimed that the wave of assassinations was "non-partisan and non-sectarian, targeting women as well as men, countrywide, indiscriminate of expertise: professors of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

as well as

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

are among the dead." According to the tribunal, no suspects have been apprehended in connection with the assassinations as of early 2006. The group note that "as an occupying power, and under international humanitarian law, the final responsibility for protecting Iraqi citizens, including academics, lies with the United States."

External links

B''Russell''s Tribunal: Iraqi Academics

, July 14, 2004 International criminal law 2004 in law

Claim of assassination campaign against Iraqi academics

See also

External links