In August 2023, Members of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians travelled to Iraq, pleading for the swift release of an opposition MP who had been arrested arbitrarily a decade earlier.
The arrest had happened early one morning in December 2013, when more than 50 security officials arrived at the home of Ahmed Al-Alwani in the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Mr. Al-Alwani reportedly offered to surrender, but a gunfight ensued, killing his brother and seven other people.
In violation of his parliamentary immunity, Mr. Al-Alwani was arrested without warrant, held incommunicado for a month and tortured. He was then sentenced to death by hanging.
Aware that the execution could take place any day, the IPU Committee had expressed its interest in visiting Iraq since the moment it had been made aware of the case but, for ten years, violence, political fragility and the COVID-19 pandemic made such a mission impossible.
Finally, when the pandemic came to an end and the country became more secure, the IPU was able to identify and contact key individuals, building trust and setting the scene for a long overdue visit to Baghdad.
In Geneva, the IPU Secretary General met with the Iraqi Ambassador. The IPU then made an official request to visit Mr. Al-Alwani and the Iraqi authorities welcomed the mission.
The team for the three-day trip included the IPU Committee President at the time, Belgian MP Samuel Cogolati, as well as Committee member, Pakistani MP and former journalist Mushahid Hussein, who knows the region well.
The team met with multiple officials, including the President of Iraq, and the Speaker and members of parliament, together with Mr. Al-Alwani’s lawyer, tribal chief, brother and son, who had not seen his father for a decade.
The meeting with Mr. Al-Alwani was emotional. He had been receiving messages from the IPU via his brother, but had never met any IPU representative, and was candid about his arrest, the physical abuse and torture he had suffered, as well as his small cell, confinement and isolation from the outside world. The conditions of his detention had improved over the years however, and he was now able to phone his family, receive visits and even have vital surgery while in detention.
The situation of Mr. Al-Alwani has yet to be resolved, as he still faces the threat of execution.
But the visit showed that the authorities were keen to resolve his case, showing good faith at the highest levels. Meanwhile, the IPU demonstrated its reluctance to give up on longstanding cases, instead waiting and seizing an opportunity when it came, even after a decade’s wait. Experience has shown that a mix of dialogue, steadfastness and patience pays off.
