An Iraqi student killed two university professors in the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, in a crime that shook public opinion and ignited social media platforms.

And local media said that the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Salah al-Din University, Dr. Kawan Ismail, was wounded by 5 bullets after student Alas Mahdi stormed his office at the university and shot him.

Immediately after committing this crime, the killer moved from the building of the Faculty of Law to the residence of university professors - or what is known as the “university village” - close to the Faculty of Law, and the professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Idris Hama Khan, was killed on the roof of his neighbors’ house while trying to escape from it, despite His wife, university professor Neshtiman Osman, who was outside the house at the time, was the target, not him.

The wave of public killings moved to #Iraq, where a dismissed Iraqi student killed the Dean of the Faculty of Law and a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Salahuddin University in #Erbil.


Post-2003 Iraq pic.twitter.com/jGDn68ZYQe

— Dr. Fahda Al-Arefi (@Dr_Fahdah_Arefi) June 29, 2022

The details of the crime indicate that Mahdi was a first-year student at Soran University in Erbil 4 years ago, and a dispute broke out between him and Professor Neshtiman because she caught him cheating in the exam, which caused his dismissal from Soran University, and his transfer to Salah al-Din University was refused due to the presence of the word “naughty.” In his file, which led him to threaten the professor several times before killing her husband, according to what local media quoted officials at Soran University as saying.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Kurdistan government, Aram Muhammad, said - in a press statement - that "the student's problem was resolved last March, after his case reached the Council of the Ministry and the decision was taken at the request of Salah al-Din and Soran Universities."

And the Minister of Education stated that "the problem was embodied in the student being transferred from Soran University, and we in the Council of Ministers decided to return him to his university and to the stage in which he stopped, but it seems that he did not accept that and this disaster occurred."

"Qasim Mahdi," the killer's brother, said - in a press statement - that his brother had been suffering from psychological problems and depression since his dismissal from the university, noting that there were medical reports proving this.

Attached is a picture of the killer student.


President of Salah al-Din University in Erbil province Kamran Younis Muhammad Amin: The accused of killing the two university professors did not enter the university door, but stormed it, and the problem was with Soran University and with the professor, the wife of the late Dr. Idris Hama Khan, a professor at Soran University.

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— Manar Al-Zubaidi (@AlzubedyManar) June 29, 2022

big shock

The case of the killing of two university professors on the campus of Salah al-Din University in Erbil caused a great shock in educational and popular circles.

"I express my deep concern and sadness over the killing of Dr. Kawan Ismail and Dr. Idris Hama Khan, who were victims of a brutal and tragic crime," Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement.

The Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masrour Barzani, said - in a statement - "The loss of these two venerable professors represents a tragic tragedy. As we extend our sincerest condolences and sympathy to their families, families and ourselves, we share their sorrows and ask God Almighty to bless them with the vastness of His mercy and dwell in their vast gardens."

Barzani added that the Ministry of Interior and the security services in the region arrested the killer and referred him to the law to receive his just punishment.

The body of the two professors was buried in Erbil, the center of the Kurdistan region, with a high official presence, while the Kurdish security forces leaked a picture of the killer after his arrest.