Iraq: Enforced disappearance of Nawaf Al-Haithami since March 2007

24 Sep 2009

At the end of March 2007, Nawaf Abdullah Alawi Nasser Al-Haithami's family lost all contact with him in Iraq. His family feared the worst due to the precarious security situation in Iraq. They later learned however, through an anonymous phone call from ‘an Iraqi family', that Nawaf was being held in U.S.-run Camp Buka Prison, now closed as of 17 September 2009.

The initial message he relayed through the Iraqi family of another prisoner was that he was fine and that he had been arrested by U.S. forces and was being held at Camp Buka. However, in the light of Camp Buka Prison's closure, this means that he, along with all the other detainees, have been transferred to other U.S.-run jails in and around Baghdad.

Mr Al-Haithami is a 23 year old Yemeni national, student and resident of Doha, Qatar.

On 24 September 2009, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) urging it to intervene with the United States and Iraqi authorities in order for Mr Al-Haithaimi to be placed under the protection of the law and that his family be informed of his whereabouts.

The current U.S. policy for detainees remanded in custody is to transfer them to Iraqi custody. However, human rights abuses are well-document in Iraqi facilities and fears are that Mr Al-Haithami may be exposed to torture and ill-treatment.

Iraq ratified the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights on 25 January 1971 and is required by international human rights law to uphold its obligations in this regard.

Iraq