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12 February, 2007
An advisor to the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, was found murdered on 31 January, three days after he and two colleagues were abducted in front of the Al-Nahrain University, where he was a law professor. The murders reflect the horrid circumstances that trade unionists and their allies are subjected to every day in attempting to build democratic unions in Iraq.
Dr. Al-Abed was a known supporter of Iraqi unions, who used his expertise to write and publish frequently on labour issues, including revision of an ILO-sponsored draft labour law for Iraq. He was a frequent lecturer at the GFIW-affiliated Institute for Trade Union Education.
Also on 31 January, a car bomb severely wounded Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani, vice president of the GFIW. It is believed he was the target of the bomb. Al-Mashhadani also serves as general secretary for the Arab Federation of Building and Woodworkers. Prior to the three-way merger of the GFTU, the IFTU, and the GFITU to form the GFIW, Al-Mashhadani served as president of the GFITU.
Violent acts against Iraqi trade unionists didn’t stop with these attacks on 31 January. A car bomb exploded the same day at the GFIW’s branch office for the northern province of Nineveh, resulting in injuries to workers and trade union leaders. The car bomb went off in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province.
GFIW issued the following statement after that morning bomb attack: “The terrorist acts, the annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement’s assets, and the placement of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement that is free of government and party hegemony.”