Iraqi religious preacher disappeared since 2014

Iraqi religious preacher disappeared since 2014

On December 29, 2014, Sabah Hassan Ali Farhan Sumait Al Azzawi was trying to enter Dujail in Saladine, accompanying his family members. He was stopped at a checkpoint at the entrance of Dujail, under the joint control of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Federal Police, where he was shortly after arrested. Since then, his fate and whereabouts have remained unknown.

Sabah Hassan Ali Farhan Sumait Al Azzawi is an associate director of the health department in Salah Eddine Province and an Imam and religious preacher at Al-Aziz Mosque in his home village.

Mr Al Azzawi and his family are originally from the city of Kirkuk. In 2014, the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of the city, forcing the Azzawi family to leave their home. They first went to the Banat Hassan camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Samarra, Saladin Governorate, but were then collectively asked by security forces to leave the camp and take a bus to Baghdad.

On December 28, 2014, while they were entering Dujail in Saladine, they were stopped at a checkpoint under the joint control of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Federal Police. The forces proceeded to separate men from women and children and boarded about 40 men, including Mr Al Azzawi, in a truck before driving them to an unknown destination. The arrested men were beaten and insulted as they boarded the truck. Since then, Mr. Al Azzawi’s fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

On June 5, 2016, Mr. Al Azzawi’s family submitted a request to the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad asking to search for his name in the official records of detainees, to no avail.

On July 26, 2023, MENA Rights Group and the Iraqi War Crimes Documentation Center requested the urgent intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

Timeline

July 26, 2023: MENA Rights Group and the Iraqi War Crimes Documentation Center request the urgent intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
June 5, 2016: Al Azzawi’s family submits a request to the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad asking to search for his name in the official records of detainees, to no avail.
December 29, 2014: Al Azzawi is arrested while he and his family were entering Dujail in Saladine by joint forces of the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Federal Police.

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