Iraq: Another Case of Enforced Disappearance by the Military in Baghdad

On 14 July 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent a communication to the United Nations Committee of Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the disappearance of an Iraqi worker, Omar Saadoun Nayef Al Saab, following his abduction by government forces in Baghdad in June 2014.

On 6 June 2014 at around 10.30pm, 41-year-old married worker Al Saab was taken from his house in the Moshahida district of Baghdad – east of the Tigris River – in front of his wife and mother, by a group of five heavily armed men. After storming Al Saab's house, the men – wearing black and military uniforms, and two of them wearing masks – handcuffed him and forced him into a white Silverado Chevrolet pickup truck before taking him to an unknown location. From the way they were dressed, the cars they were driving and the weapons they carried, there is little doubt that these men belonged to the military forces. Al Saab's mother, who was hit with a gun butt by one of the men, and Al Saab's wife, who had also been threatened, have not heard from him since.

As a result, following his disappearance, Al Saab's family submitted complaints to the General Prosecutor of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (Al Karkh Branch), the Juafir police station and the Ministry of Human Rights, to no avail. They also inquired at the Al Muthanna airport detention facility in West Baghdad, a secret prison run by the 54th and 56th Brigade of the Army which reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office, where torture is systematically practiced. They contacted the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), whose "tracing department" seeks to ascertain the fate of missing persons. However, the IRCS has not been able to locate Al Saab to date.

Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Al Saab's family appealed to Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly, who brought his case to the attention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The Committee will intervene on his behalf with the Iraqi authorities, asking them to release him immediate or at least to let his relatives know of his whereabouts and allow them to visit him.

In view of the recurrent cases of enforced disappearances in the country, as documented by Alkarama on 22 July 2015, 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)