Two incidents have sparked widespread anger in Iraq and shaken the ministries of Interior and Higher Education.
The first involved a number of Interior Ministry officers, including holders of high military ranks, who created “fake pages” on social media sites to blackmail their colleagues with the aim of obtaining money.
At the same time, pictures of the dean of the College of Computer Science at the University of Basra, showed him in an “intimate position” with a female student inside his office.
The two scandals sparked a wave of resentment on social media, with thousands of bloggers demanding severe punishments against those involved.
Major General Yahya Rasoul, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mohammad al-Sudani, said that the latter ordered the formation of an investigative committee to look into the cases. The committee is headed by the Minister of Interior and includes the head of the National Security Service and the military inspector of the Ministry of Defense.
Investigations led to “identifying members of a network within the security body that uses social media sites (fake pages) to blackmail the institution and insult its symbols, in addition to extorting officers...”
The committee decided, according to Rasoul, “to refer the officers involved in this illegal act to the command, and to continue the necessary legal procedures and complete the investigations.”
In Basra, a security force arrested the Dean of the College of Computer Science, Imad Shaalan Al-Shawi, according to court orders, on charges of blackmail and exploiting his position after pictures spread of him in an intimate relationship with a female student inside his office.
The Minister of Higher Education, Naeem Al-Aboudi, decided on Wednesday to dismiss Al-Shawi from his post.
Activists on social media said that the incident raises urgent questions about whether female students in the Iraqi community are subjected to various forms of blackmail, calling for a serious investigation into cases related to professors exploiting their positions against women.
