Member of Al Anbar Awakening disappeared after abduction on October 4, 2014
Name(s):
Hisham Fawaz Hameed Suliman Al Assafi
Status:
Disappeared
Year of birth:
1995
Profession:
High school student
Nationality:
Iraqi
Date of arrest:
Hisham Al Assafi was abducted in Baghdad on October 4, 2014. His family fears that he was abducted by the police during an identity check conducted at a checkpoint. In 2019, they received informal information suggesting he was detained at Baghdad Airport Prison.
In 2014, Hisham Al Assafi fled Zankoura, his hometown in the Al Anbar governorate, to find refuge in Erbil. Before arriving in Kurdistan, Al Assafi was wanted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) because of his affiliation with the Al Anbar Awakening, an armed group established to counter Al Qaeda in Iraq, where he was part of the 12th Anbar Emergency Regiment which received official recognition from the local authorities.
On the night of 4 October 2014, Mr. Al Assafi travelled from Erbil to Baghdad, where he had last spoken to his mother while in the Al Saadoun neighbourhood. Shortly after their conversation, his mobile phone was switched off. Al Assafi’s family believe he was arrested by the police during an identity check because the police had been conducting mass arrests at checkpoints targeting individuals from Ramadi during this period.
During the two years following his disappearance, Al Assafi’s family was not able to submit any complaint because they were residing in the Al Anbar governorate, which was then controlled by ISIL. However, on 8 September 2019, they were able to submit a complaint before the investigating judge of Ramadi after reporting his disappearance at the Al Hurria police station in Baghdad. In late September 2019, the judge told the family that an advertising insert had been displayed in two local newspapers calling for any information relating to Al Assafi’s fate and whereabouts.
In 2019, the family also appointed a lawyer to carry out searches in prisons and police stations who told Al Assafi's family that he had received informal information indicating that Al Assafi was being detained in Baghdad Airport Prison. The lawyer then asked Al Assafi's relatives to provide him with 30,000 USD in order to obtain additional information and to organise a prison visit, but the family was unable to raise the necessary funds.
On March 31, 2020, MENA Rights Group requested the urgent intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. The authorities never clarified Al Assafi’s fate and whereabouts.
| Name(s): |
Hisham Fawaz Hameed Suliman Al Assafi
|
| Status: |
Disappeared
|
| Year of birth: |
1995
|
| Profession: |
High school student
|
| Nationality: |
Iraqi
|
| Date of arrest: |
|
In 2014, Hisham Al Assafi fled Zankoura, his hometown in the Al Anbar governorate, to find refuge in Erbil. Before arriving in Kurdistan, Al Assafi was wanted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) because of his affiliation with the Al Anbar Awakening, an armed group established to counter Al Qaeda in Iraq, where he was part of the 12th Anbar Emergency Regiment which received official recognition from the local authorities.
On the night of 4 October 2014, Mr. Al Assafi travelled from Erbil to Baghdad, where he had last spoken to his mother while in the Al Saadoun neighbourhood. Shortly after their conversation, his mobile phone was switched off. Al Assafi’s family believe he was arrested by the police during an identity check because the police had been conducting mass arrests at checkpoints targeting individuals from Ramadi during this period.
During the two years following his disappearance, Al Assafi’s family was not able to submit any complaint because they were residing in the Al Anbar governorate, which was then controlled by ISIL. However, on 8 September 2019, they were able to submit a complaint before the investigating judge of Ramadi after reporting his disappearance at the Al Hurria police station in Baghdad. In late September 2019, the judge told the family that an advertising insert had been displayed in two local newspapers calling for any information relating to Al Assafi’s fate and whereabouts.
In 2019, the family also appointed a lawyer to carry out searches in prisons and police stations who told Al Assafi's family that he had received informal information indicating that Al Assafi was being detained in Baghdad Airport Prison. The lawyer then asked Al Assafi's relatives to provide him with 30,000 USD in order to obtain additional information and to organise a prison visit, but the family was unable to raise the necessary funds.
On March 31, 2020, MENA Rights Group requested the urgent intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. The authorities never clarified Al Assafi’s fate and whereabouts.
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Abdelrahman Al-Qaradawi is an Egyptian-Turkish citizen living and working in Turkey. He is also a well-known poet, artist and activist of Egyptian descent whose creative work reflects his thoughts, opinions and concerns about political and social issues across the Middle East and North Africa region.
