On the night of August 6, 2018, Mohammed Al Ahmad was at his barbershop, cutting one of his clients’ hair, when he received a confusing phone call. He then closed his shop and told one of his shop’s neighbours that he had an urgent matter to deal with before returning. However, Al Ahmad disappeared afterwards.

On February 12, 2012, while Ghariri was driving to work, he was abducted and taken, with his car, to an unknown location. That same day, and prior to his abduction, he called his family for the last time while he was near the Mahmudiyah Camp, in the Babil governorate of Iraq. The next day, his family submitted a complaint regarding his abduction to Al Mahmoudiyah police station, but to no avail.

On May 15, 2017 Montaser Al Saadoun was at his friend’s house in the Al Yarmouk neighbourhood in West Mosul when several members of the Iraqi Federal Police raided the house and arrested him. His friend witnessed the arrest and was later able to inform Al Saadoun’s family.

On June 6, 2007, Abdel-Wahhhab Al Najdi was returning from Fallujah to Baghdad by bus, which he got on at the “Baghdad and Ramadi garage” bus station in Fallujah. He was last heard from at 5 p.m. that day when he called his family and told them that he was on his way to Baghdad. When his older brother tried to call him back at 7 p.m., his mobile phone was switched off.

On April 20, 2017, Karam Al Dulaimi was at the Wadi Hajar market selling gas bottles when three gunmen belonging to the Iraqi army and government-affiliated militias approached him and asked him to accompany them to their military barracks to provide them with gas bottles. As witnessed by his family members, he was then ordered to get into one of their military pickups.

On May 28, 2014, while Ali Al Harbawi was driving to the Petrol Station of Salaheddine in Balad, he was stopped at a checkpoint controlled by the Ansar Allah al-Awfiya’ militia. At the time of arrest, the militiamen were wearing civilian clothes and holding weapons. Al Harbawi was then arrested and taken to an unknown location in Ishaqi town, located within the Balad district.

In October 2006, Al Khazali and Al Zameli, two cousins from the Al Diwaniyah province, were visiting Damascus as tourists when they were suddenly arrested. While they entered Syria from Iraq two weeks prior to their arrest, the two cousins had been staying in a rented apartment in Set Zaynab in the Rif Dimashq Governorate. On October 15, 2006, they were arrested at the rented apartment by members of the Criminal Security Branch of Bab Musla before being transferred to the “Palestine branch” of the Military Intelligence in Damascus where they were interrogated and tortured.

On July 27, 2014, members of the Iraqi army, wearing military uniform, conducted several arrests in the neighbourhoods surrounding Al Amin Mosque, Madain district, Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. Mohammad Al Abadi was arrested in his home whilst Ahmad Al Abadi was arrested at his parents’ house. Whilst being arrested, the brothers experienced mistreatment and were not presented with arrest warrants. Family members witnessed the arrests.

Between August 2014 to November 2017, the town of Al Qa'im, in the Al Anbar Governorate, was under the control of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). During this period, many families fled from Al Qa'im, to safer areas.

In order to leave the Al Anbar Governorate, individuals had to pass through Al Razaza Checkpoint, which was considered to be the main crossing point between the Governates of Al Anbar and Karbala. The checkpoint is close to Amiriya, a city in the Fallujah district of Anbar province.

Khaled and Mohammed Al Jabouri are brothers who fled Al Zab town, with their family, in 2015 due to rising tensions between the Iraqi authorities and the Islamic State. The family subsequently settled in “Silo pilgrims”, a camp for displaced persons, in Hajjaj, Iraq.