Harrowing stories of the suffering and dilemmas faced by academics in Islamic State (IS)-controlled areas of Iraq have emerged through testimonies given to the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara).
One witness, on condition of anonymity, describes what happened at the University of Anbar (sited in Ramadi, capital of the country™s largest governorate or province, Al-Anbar). Even before IS took over in June 2014, he recalls, œwe academics were unable to speak freely or give our opinions about IS in public because there were some students involved with IS and some lecturers were beaten up by students. Awarding poor marks to œa student belonging to IS became very risky.
Things obviously got worse once IS seized power, since they œthreatened the academics and wanted them to propagandise for them. Lecturers were tortured and even killed for refusing to obey. IS also prohibited academics from leaving the university hostel and used them as human shields¦ Al-Qaim College was occupied by IS and the buildings used as a court and a prison.
Yet even those who have found safety in Kurdistan often receive death threats or news that children left behind have been kidnapped. And all this just for the œsin of wanting to œimprove higher education in our country and to teach modern knowledge, which is forbidden and unacceptable to IS.
Alongside the terrible impact on individuals, concludes the witness, œIS have destroyed the infrastructure of the university and higher education in Al-Anbar. With books and research papers burned, academics™ houses, laboratories, laptops and cars taken over, œthe academic year 2014 was lost and many students were not able to finish their studies. All research projects were stopped and most lost forever. This took us back perhaps 10 years.
Similarly, tragic events are unfolding at the University of Mosul, once the second largest in Iraq. This is œunfortunately now semi-closed, reports another of Cara™s local contacts, since the IS takeover last June led to œthe flight of the army and the government from Mosul, leaving civilians trapped in the city. Now hundreds of faculty members and thousands of students have left the area for nearby Kurdistan as well as other Iraqi cities or outside Iraq.
Teaching has stopped in all faculties at Mosul except medicine and education. Yet at the same time, the Iraqi government and higher education ministry don™t recognise universities operating under IS rule, with ten deans sacked by the ministry on April 21.
The situation has created appalling dilemmas for academics. Remaining in Mosul leaves them exposed to attacks on the city from the Kurdish Peshmerga and American-led coalition forces as well as IS. Hospitals suffer from an acute shortage of drugs and money to pay staff.
IS-controlled areas œare witnessing a return to the Stone Age, says Kate Robertson, Cara™s deputy executive director, with œacademics and medics within teaching hospitals now œcaught between a rock and a hard place, shunned by Baghdad for remaining in (such) areas, or faced with the loss of everything if they try to escape.

(Excerpted and adapted from )