Articles for Iraq

On 18 October 2014, 26-year-old worker Arshad Al Dulaimi was with his cousin crossing the checkpoint situated on Dulaim bridge, north of Baghdad, when they were arrested by the military forces and taken to Al Aqrab prison, in the nearby city of Hillah. The authorities have, however, always refused to provide any information on Al Dulaimi's whereabouts.

On 18 October 2014, 55-year-old Haytham Al Dulaimi was arrested in his home by 5 heavily armed men in civilian and military clothes and taken to the Al Aqrab Brigade in Al Hallah. After being acquitted by the Hillah Court, Al Dulaimi was taken to the Hillah Intelligence Branch, from where he was supposed to be released on 30 November 2014. However, Al Dulaimi never left the detention facility and his family has since then received no news of his fate and whereabouts.

Alkarama welcomes the release, on 10 January 2016, of lawyer Mouayad Obeed Al Ezzi, who was arrested on the basis of an already cancelled arrest warrant by members of the police forces on 29 December 2015.

On 11 October 2015, construction worker Ayoub Al Mashhadani, aged 17 at the time, was arrested at his workplace and taken to an unknown location. Until today, his family was not able to obtain any information on his fate and whereabouts.

On 28 July 2014, 27-year-old Iraqi national, Salah Al Dulaimi disappeared following his night arrest by a squad of the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT), a special security force that has considerably strengthened since its creation by the U.S. Army during the occupation.

On 8 July 2015, Hasan Mohammed Hasan Al Essa, a 35-year-old Palestinian refugee, disappeared following his arrest by members of the security forces at his workplace, an aluminium factory in the Al Jadida neighbourhood in Baghdad. Still missing after almost five months, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly wrote to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) on 26 November 2015, hoping to clarify his fate and whereabouts.

On 5 November 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRCtee) published its Concluding Observations following its review of Iraq on 26-27 October 2015.

On 5 November 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent a communication to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of Haitham Al Kaabi, a 44-year-old construction worker disappeared since his arrest in his house in Latifiyah in the Babil Governorate on 18 July 2015.

On 13 October 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent a communication to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of 68-year-old farmer Tamer Al Aqidi, disappeared since his arrest by members of the Federal Police in August 2014.

On 12 October 2015, Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly sent a communication to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) regarding the case of three men who disappeared following their respective arrests at their homes in the Doha neighbourhood in southern Baghdad between May and June 2014.

Circumstances of the arrests and disappearances