Panic on Campus!! [Archives:2000/21/Reportage]

By: Jalal Al-Shara’abi &
Mohamed Al-Qadhi
Photos by Nasri Al-Saqqaf
The mass murder of 16 girl students at the Collage of Medicine, Sana’a university has caused a furor not only among students, but among Yemen’s public in general. Mohammed Adam Omar Ishac, morgue assistant, a Sudanese national, has been savagely butchering his victims since 1996. He was arrested following a complaint by the mother of the Iraqi student that her  daughter mysteriously disappeared without leaving any trace in December, 1999, that she had not never left the college campus, and that she suspected Adam to be involved in the murder. However, authorities concerned did not seem to be convinced about the Iraqi mother’s story, and Adam was soon released to carry on his brutal acts of raping, killing, mutilating university girl students in a small room in the college morgue. As if that was not bad enough, he kept their organs for trading as he is believed to be a member of a widespread international network..
Last Friday, Adam was arrested again and was sent for Criminal Investigation in the Capital Secretariat. Primary interrogations, revealed that the accused confessed to murdering a Yemeni and an Iraqi medical student in the past.
Sources close to the college have disclosed that the college used to get human body organs from the suspect for high prices without even bothering where he was bringing them from.
It has been reported that 16 girls in Yemen and 51 in other Arab countries were killed by Adam. Social constraints made many families feel shy of reporting their daughter’s disappearance from the college. They were ashamed of scandal.
But the Iraqi mother did not keep silent and persisted in her efforts to unravel the mystery. It is said that the killer tempted the Iraqi student of giving high marks in anatomy. He reportedly charged her a fee of US$ 2500 which she failed to comply. When she was about to reveal this, he lured her to his small room and killed her.
Many questions are raised about the modus operandi of this serial killer. Was he working on his own, or is he the leader f a racket? Strict confidentiality is still maintained about the results of the interrogation which is continuing.
Security sources said that the man had sent pictures of and documents related to the victims, along with a cassette recording his brutal acts to some people in Sudan. The same sources added that a committee from the Ministry of Interior had flown to Sudan to investigate into this matter.
In written answers, Adam said he had been once arrested before in Lebanon on the same charge and that he had killed 67 girls; 16 in Yemen and 51 outside Yemen. He added that 8 of his victims in Yemen were university students. Those were deceived by promises of high marks in the anatomy paper. The others were from outside the college and were brought to the college through backdoors.
More than 60 reports had been sent to the competent authorities about the notorious activities of Adam. However all were pushed under the carpet. Adam says that he is not alone and that he was assisted by others whom he does not want to identify.
Students of the College of Medicine organized a sit-in strike at the college last Tuesday, 16 May. They demanded the administration to speed up investigations, announce investigation results, interrogate the College board of directors and the security and outline their future measures to avoid occurrence of such horrendous phenomena. The Yemen Times was there at the scene and managed to take some photos. Many students were so livid that they could not talk to us. Others were seething with rage and anger.
“What’s happened perplexes everybody in general and we, women, in particular. One wonders, since the college knew that he was infamous, why did it accept him? What if he had other accomplices? What will our fate be?,” A.Y.H., Student of Medicine grade VI, exclaimed angrily. She said that he used to ask the girls to meet him in his office by entering through the backdoors of the college. “Where are the security guards of the college? They knew that he used to sleep in the college. Didn’t they know that he was killing, burying our classmates?,” she blasts, shaking her fist.
“I cannot fancy myself looking on a teacher’s face any more!,” H.A., student of Laboratories grade II, said. “What the hell is the fittest punishment he should get?,” she exclaimed. She deplored the negative role of the moribund security members who allowed him to stay at nights in the college premises and the College Board for accepting him despite the fact that he was accused of many immoral actions. “Just because he was on a low salary, did not mean they should accept him,” she commented.
Why didn’t the security men make sure that rooms are left by everybody here? Why didn’t the college board notice that acid, by which the murderer burnt his victims’ bodies, was always disappearing strangely in the laboratory? These were the questions she burst out before she got livid and burst into tears.
Taha Hussain, Student of medicine grade III and Secretary General of Students’ Rights and Freedoms Committee, said that the crime was a result of security chaos. “Security men were all the time busy monitoring students’ activities and checking cards while they were overlooking many incidents of theft, embezzlement and recently of brutal murders,” he said. He added that complaints involving the behavior of the killer were sent to the authorities but to no avail. “There are other complaints about abnormal behaviors by some people at the university which we will reveal at the appropriate time,” he added.
How did Sudanese students at the College of Medicine react to the event? Student Q.M., grade II, said that the event has deeply affected all academics. However she hoped that the event would not damage relationships between the Sudanese and the Yemenis.
Akram Al-Saqqaf, grade VI at the college of medicine, commented not withstanding the ghastliness of the case, it would not have happened except in an environment contaminated by corruption and negligence. “The weakness of administration at the morgue department and lack of alertness in it have provided a golden opportunity for the killer to commit his crimes.” The lack of seriousness on the part of the college security men about their tasks and their concentration only on watching the students was an important factor for criminals to commit their crimes without being noticed. He said the whole incident was the culmination of the corrupt policy and what happened makes it an imperative for students to shoulder the security responsibility in the college.
The Palestinian student Shukria Jalal Mahmoud, a friend of Zainab, the Iraqi student, one of the victims of the medical college manslaughter said she could recognize the body of her friend by her hand. She spoke to Yemen Times reporter “I am a medical student at grade III and Zainab was one of my best friends. She had disappeared since Ramadhan last year. Shukria was wondering about who should be responsible for this act and who would be able to bring back those girls to their families.
On the other hand, the University Board of Directors issued a statement following its extraordinary meeting on May 15 stating the following:
1- Mohammed Adam, was sent to investigation for taking bribes on December 1999.
2- As he was proved guilty he was fired in the beginning of February, 2000.
3- When the Iraqi mother informed the college of the disappearance of her daughter, the college immediately informed the Criminal Investigation that carried on a field investigation until it unraveled the crime on May 12 when it found two bodies, one of which was of the Iraqi victim.
4- The college did dot receive any reports on other disappearing students.
5- Only two bodies were found at the college.
6- The University Board of Directors is following up results of interrogation of the administration until the completion of the investigation.


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