Articles for Iraq

On April 23 and 24, 2018, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly requested the urgent intervention of the UN human rights mechanisms in the cases of three individuals who disappeared following their arrests by the Iraqi authorities between 2006 and 2015.

Geneva (April 27, 2018) – On April 18, 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published its follow-up report after reviewing Iraq’s implementation of four key recommendations issued following the country’s review in October 2015. The report concluded that the recommendations had “not been fully implemented” by the Iraqi authorities.

Between December 2017 and February 2018, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly submitted seven more cases of disappearances in Iraq to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

Hamid Al Zoubai, Ahmad Al Dulaimi, cousins Duraid and Sattar Al Janabi, and brothers Falih, Salih and Meshtaq Al Janabi all disappeared in 2014 in different regions of the country.

Throughout February and March 2018, Iraqi human rights defenders Faisal Al Tamimi and Iyad Al Roumy have been subjected to threats and attacks in retaliation for speaking out against the practice of enforced disappearances in the country and for calling on Iraq to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On January 15, 2018, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) requesting that the UN experts call upon the Iraqi authorities to immediately release 24 individuals* arbitrarily detained as a result of their real or perceived link with former Vice-President Tariq Al Hashimi.

UPDATE: Samir Obeid was released on June 13, 2018 after having been acquitted on June 12.

On December 12, 2017, Samir Al Daami, a well-known Iraqi-Norwegian freelance journalist and political commentator, was released after spending nearly two months in prison.

In November 2017, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly submitted 11 cases of missing people in Iraq to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). These 11 individuals were abducted by either the Iraqi army or the intelligence services in government-controlled areas, the majority over the course of 2014.

Between November 14 and 23, 2017, Agnes Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions conducted an official country visit to Iraq, including the Kurdish autonomous region.

During her visit, Callamard examined responses to the multiple violations of the right to life that have been perpetrated in Iraq since 2014, as well as the steps taken to hold the Islamic State (IS) and the Iraqi security forces accountable for these violations.

On October 22, 2017, Samir Al Daami, an Iraqi-Norwegian political commentator, was arrested after publishing a post on Facebook the day before criticising Iraq’s prime minister. Al Daami is currently detained incommunicado at Al Muthanna Air Base, where he is being denied contact with his family and lawyer.