The whereabouts of human rights lawyer Ali Jaseb Hatteb Al-Heliji from Iraq remain unknown exactly two years after he was abducted by armed men on 8 October 2019.
Mr. Al-Heliji is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Advocates for the Protesters Rights Commission. He advocates for the rights of political prisoners and against violations committed by the government.
It has been reported that, Mr. Al-Heliji received a call from a client, who was asking to meet him in a central area of the Ammarahin al-Mayssan governate on 8 October 2019. Mr. Al-Heliji met with the client on the same day. Shortly after meeting the client, armed men reportedly dragged him away from his car and drove him away in one of the trucks.
According to Amnesty International, the armed men targeted Mr. Al-Heliji because of his representation of protesters and for speaking out on social about violations that were committed against protesters. Mr. Al-Heliji reportedly already received death threats in connection to his social media posts before his abduction.
After the killing of Mr. Al-Heliji’s father, who sought justice for his son’s disappearance, in March 2021, UN experts called for “more to be urgently done to establish the fate and whereabouts of Mr. Ali Al Heliji”. In November 2020, several UN experts also previously wrote to the Government of Iraq regarding the enforced disappearance of Mr. Al Heliji.
Two years after his disappearance, the whereabouts of Mr. Al-Heliji remain unkown.
