On 28 July 2014, Al Dulaimi was sleeping at his home, in the village of Al Dulaim in the district of Al-Mahawil in the Babil Province, when a SWAT squad stormed in at 3.30am. Masked, heavily armed and wearing black uniforms, the four officers dragged Al Dulaimi outside the house and took him away in a Hammer pickup truck before his wife, brother and mother-in-law. That very same day, three other inhabitants of Al Dulaim disappeared in similar circumstances during a campaign of mass arrests conducted by the SWAT and the Federal police, as previously documented by Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly.

Despite inquiring about their relative's fate with various official bodies, including the Jabla police station and the Ministry of Interior, Al Dulaimi's family was never provided any information on his fate and whereabouts. Left with no recourse at the national level, they contacted Alkarama and Al Wissam Humanitarian Assembly hoping that the two human rights organisations could help them locate Al Dulaimi by bringing his case to the attention of the CED to call upon the Iraqi authorities to release him immediately, or at the very least to disclose his whereabouts and allow his family to visit him without restriction.

Concerned over the increasing number of enforced disappearances recorded in the country, Alkarama calls upon the Iraqi authorities to put an end to the systematic practice of enforced disappearance in the country in accordance with their obligations under international law − in particular under the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) ratified in November 2010 − and to urgently implement the recommendations that the CED issued during its 9th session, including to:

• Incorporate the crime of enforced disappearance into domestic law as an autonomous offence in line with the definition in Article 2 ICCPED, and ensuring that the offence carries appropriate penalties;
• Ensure that all cases of enforced disappearance perpetrated investigated thoroughly, impartially and without delay by an independent body;
• Ensure that all persons who were forcibly disappeared and whose fate is not yet known are searched for and located without delay.

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