In September 2005, Mr Al Matoui was arrested in Iraq and detained there since then. Following his arrest, he was subjected to severe torture and mistreatment, which, together with dire detention conditions, led to chronic health issues, as reported by his family. One year after his arrest, in October 2006, he was sentenced to 10 years of prison following an unfair and expeditious trial, based on confessions extracted under torture and without access to legal counsel.

After this sentence, Mr Al Matoui was detained in Soussa prison in Al Sulaymanyah province, located in the Kurdish region of Iraq. According to fellow detainees, the penitentiary administration of Soussa prison repeatedly expressed death threats against him because of his public criticisms against the inhuman conditions imposed on those detained in Iraqi detention facilities across the country.

On 31 July 2012, Mr Al Matoui was transferred from Soussa prison to Al Rusafa prison in the capital, Baghdad, allegedly to benefit from the exchange of prisoners' agreement signed in March of the same year between the Iraqi authorities and their Tunisian counterparts. However, Mr Al Matoui was never handed over to the Tunisian authorities as he was assassinated inside the prison. Following three days of detention in solitary confinement in Al Rusafa prison he was taken out of his cell by the guards and beat and stabbed by three men who came from outside the prison, which led to his death the same day.

Mr Al Matoui, as a detainee in Al Rusafa prison, was under the direct responsibility of the Iraqi authorities at the time of his death. Thus, the authorities not only clearly failed to protect him, but they are also complicit in his death, given that they allowed for the perpetrators to access the prison. This tragic event also indicates that the situation of many prisoners detained in Iraq continue to be a matter of great concern as grave violations continue to occur in prisons and detention facilities under Iraqi jurisdiction, in most case with the full knowledge of the authorities.