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 8 July 2015, several security officers arrived at the factory where Al Essa was working, driving white cars and a white Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck, all with governmental plates. The officers are believed to be members of the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT), a special security force commonly using such cars to conduct arrests, as shown in the cases of Wessam Al Ghazzawi and Adnan Al Zoubai, both disappeared in similar circumstances in 2014. According to Al Essa's brother and other witnesses, the security forces entered the factory, beat several employees up and took their mobile phone before arresting Al Essa.
Highly concerned, Al Essa's family inquired about his fate at the Al Rachad police station in Baghdad, with the Ministry of Human Rights, the Tasferat prison near Al Shaab Stadium and the Intelligence Department at Baghdad Al Jadida, but none of these authorities provided the families with information on what happened to their relative.
Left with no other recourse, Al Essa's relatives contacted Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly and Alkarama in order to shed light on the fate and whereabouts of Al Essa, who remains disappeared almost five months after his arrest. The two human rights NGOs seized the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), requesting it to call for the Iraqi authorities to release him or, at the very least, to put him under the protection of the law by disclosing his whereabouts and allowing his family to visit him without restriction.
Even though Iraq has acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICCPED) in 2010, to date, the State has still not incorporated the crime of enforced disappearance into its domestic law. Alkarama, therefore, calls upon the Iraqi authorities to urgently implement the recommendations the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) issued during its 9th session, and in particular to:
- Incorporate enforced disappearance into domestic law as an autonomous offence, in line with the definition contained in Article 2 ICCPED;
- Ensure that all persons who were forcibly disappeared and whose fate is not yet known are searched for and located without delay.
For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)