The Technical Institute of Najaf held a festival entitled “Exposing the Crimes of the Baath Party”, attended by a wide range of academic and official figures, in commemoration of the massacres of the Saddam-era Baathist regime and to remember the severe violations inflicted upon the Iraqi people, affecting humanity, the land, and the cultural identity.
During the festival, the Dean of the Technical Institute of Najaf, Professor Dr. Haider Hassan Abdul-Abdali, received a shield from the Martyrs’ Foundation from the Director of the Najaf Martyrs Directorate, Dr. Nasir Wissam Obeid Al-Shaibani, in recognition of the institute’s academic and national role in documenting crimes and raising historical awareness among generations.
In his speech, Professor Dr. Abdul-Abdali emphasized that:
“The Baath Party was a repressive, bloody, and dictatorial party that destroyed the Iraqi people and Iraq itself, obliterating entire civilizations, as it targeted humanity itself—killing values, violating human dignity, and turning society into a perpetual victim of policies of repression and exclusion.”
He stressed that the responsibility of academic institutions extends beyond education to preserving national memory and preventing the repetition of such tragedies.
The festival witnessed the attendance of senior figures from the Technical Institute of Najaf, who highlighted the importance of commemorating the massacres of the Saddam-era Baath Party as a historical reference point to recall the suffering of those who lived through that period and to convey the truth about the injustices, killings, oppression, and flagrant violations of human dignity inflicted on previous generations under a regime that disregarded all standards of human values, imposing a brutal authority on the Iraqi people.
The festival included the screening of a documentary film produced by the Martyrs’ Foundation, documenting aspects of the Baath Party’s crimes, including attacks on religious sanctities such as the targeting of Imam Ali’s (peace be upon him) shrine, depicting the magnitude of the tragedy experienced by Iraq.
Several officials from the Martyrs’ Foundation attended the festival, including Muhammad Abbas Hussein Shubr, Head of the Media and Public Relations Division; Dr. Mazen Jasim Shaheed Al-Hamdani, Head of the Department of Former Regime Martyrs; and Mr. Ahmed Hussein Saleh Al-Shawki, Head of the Social and Health Affairs Department.
This festival underscores the national role of academic institutions in documenting the crimes of the Baathist regime, promoting historical awareness, and reinforcing values of justice and humanity, contributing to the building of a collective memory that protects Iraqi society from the return of dictatorship and fosters a culture of respect for human dignity.