Iraq: Enforced Disappearance of Mohammad Al Kamash Following Abduction by the Military at the Dora Refinery in Baghdad

On 29 July 2015, Alkarama, in cooperation with Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly, sent an urgent action to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Mohammad Al Kamash, a married 29-year-old Iraqi citizen who disappeared following his arrest by military officers from the Baghdad Operation Command in June 2014.

On 9 June 2014, Al Kamash was working at the Dora Refinery in Southwest Baghdad when forces from the Baghdad Operation Command – military forces responsible for the security in the capital set up by former Prime Minister Al Maliki – entered the refinery with arrest warrants and arrested the victim and other employees. The arrestees were then forced into three cars and taken to unknown places.

Following Al Kamash's disappearance, his family submitted complaints to the Central Criminal Court and the Fifth Division of Intelligence – a branch of the security services under the control of the Ministry of Interior –. His relatives also inquired at various military detention centres, including the old Al Muthanna airport, a secret detention centre located in West Baghdad where torture is systematically practiced, the Baghdad airport detention facility and the Baghdad Operation Command, but none of these authorities was able to provide the family with any information or assistance.

Left with no other avenue, Al Kamash's family then appealed to Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly and Alkarama, who sent an urgent action to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance (CED) to call upon the Iraqi authorities to release him immediately, or at the very least to disclose his whereabouts and allow his family to visit him without restriction.

In view of the facts, Alkarama urges Iraq, as one of the few States in the region to be a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) – binding upon Iraq by virtue of its accession in November 2010 – to live up to its commitments and take all necessary measures to put an end to the widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearance, in particular by:

• Taking the necessary legal measures to ensure that enforced disappearance is criminalised under Iraqi law and that the penalties provided reflect their grave nature;
• Ensuring that all cases of disappearances are thoroughly, promptly and effectively investigated, and that those responsible are prosecuted;
• Adopting measures to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all victims and ensure that any individual who has suffered as a result of the disappearance is entitled to redress;
• Explicitly prohibiting secret and incommunicado detention and taking the necessary measures to ensure that all secret detention facilities are closed;
• Allowing unexpected independent inspection of all places of detention.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)