The international higher education community mourns the death of an American colleague, Dr Warren Weinstein, who was held hostage by al-Qaida on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan since 13 August 2011.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Weinstein as well as an Italian hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto, who was abducted in 2012, likely died in a CIA drone strike. Both were aid workers in Pakistan.
Warren Weinstein (73) was a former political science professor at the State University of New York at Oswego and a member of the United University Professions (UUP), which is associated with UFT/AFT.
SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley said: “Dr. Weinstein devoted his life to making the world a better place. He left us to serve others in some of the world’s most impoverished and troubled regions.”
Warren Weinstein was working as an economic development expert for J.E. & Austin Associates, a contractor to USAID, when he was abducted. Weinstein had not been heard from since 2012, when he was seen in a video released by al Qaeda.
In August last year UUP called for the US State Department to secure Weinstein’s release. All 35,000 UUP members were urged to contact their Congressional representatives to ask them to support U.S. House and Senate resolutions calling for Weinstein’s safe return.
President Barack Obama expressing his grief and condolences to the families of Weinstein and Lo Porto said that he takes "full responsibility" for the U.S. counterterrorism operation that led to the inadvertent death of the two hostages.
Weinstein's family said in a statement that they hold the hostage-takers responsible for his death.
Education International has conveyed its condelences on behalf of the international higher education community.