Articles for Iraq

On 2 July 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly submitted an urgent appeal to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Anwar Al Kawaz, who disappeared following his arrest by masked men in military trousers in August 2014. Almost a year later, in May 2015, Anwar's older brother, Firas disappeared in similar circumstances.

On 12 June 2015, Alkarama sent an appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (SR SUMX), Christof Heyns, asking him to urgently call upon Iraq to investigate the death of 40-year-old father and member of former Vice President, Al Hashimi's security personnel, Amir Al Batawi, who died under torture in Baghdad on 15 March 2012.

On 2 June 2015, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) – the Iraqi National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), created in April 2012 – was awarded the "B" status by the International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs (ICC) to mark the Iraqi NHRI's non-full compliance with the

On 20 May 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture (SRT) regarding the case of Mohammed Abbas Kadhim Al Sudani, a 29-year old married worker and an agent in the intelligence services of the Mosul federal police.

On 8 May 2015, Alkarama in cooperation with Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Riyadh Ibrahim Yacob Al Obaidi, a 54-year-old professor from Al Nisour University College, Baghdad University, who has been missing since his arrest by the Counter Terrorism Force in Baghdad in May 2014.

During its 113th session held in March 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) – a body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (

On 19 March 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted during its 28th session the outcome of Iraq's Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process aimed at assessing the human rights record of each UN Member State every four years.

On 7 May 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (SR IJL) regarding the case of four high-profile Iraqi lawyers, victims of harassment by the Iraqi authorities, including through arbitrary arrest and detention, and even one extrajudicial execution. Defending political opponents and persons allegedly close to them, the lawyers have all been accused of terrorism in heavily flawed and politically-motivated trials.

On 30 April 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Saleh Musa Ahmed Al Baydani, a Yemeni citizen who has been missing for over 10 months from the prison where he had been detained since December 2012. Arrested in August 2009 by U.S. forces when he was only 17, Al Baydani was sentenced to death two years later. His family is extremely concerned by his disappearance, as he remains at high risk of being executed.

On 14 April 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent an urgent action to the United Nations Committee of Enforced Disappearance (CED) regarding the disappearance of 29-year-old Yasser AbdelKarim Aswad Al Janabi, abducted by the military in June 2014, as well as a communication to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearance (WGEID) regarding the disappearance of his father, Abde