Arbitrary detention of Salman Khairallah and Omar Al-Amri
On 17 December 2019, Salman Khairallah and Omar Khadhem Al-Ameri were released. The two had been arrested on 11 December, when they were on their way to buy tents for the protesters at Liberation Square in Baghdad.
Salman Khairallah is an environmental human rights defender, member of the Iraqi Social Forum, and works on water pollution issues in in Iraq. He also contributes to the campaign ‘Protect Tigris’ which works on minimizing the pollution in the Tigris river. Salman Khairallah regularly participates in the anti-corruption demonstrations which started in early October 2019.
Omar Al-Amri is a human rights defender and member of the Iraqi Social Forum. He works on social and economic rights in Iraq, including by blogging about these issues.
On 11 December 2019, human rights defenders Omar Al-Amri and Salman Khairallah were arbitrarily detained regarding their participation in the peaceful demonstrations in Baghdad.
Salman Khairallah is an environmental human rights defender, member of the Iraqi Social Forum, and works on water pollution issues in in Iraq. He also contributes to the campaign ‘Protect Tigris’ which works on minimizing the pollution in the Tigris river. Salman Khairallah regularly participates in the anti-corruption demonstrations which started in early October 2019.
Omar Al-Amri is a human rights defender and member of the Iraqi Social Forum. He works on social and economic rights in Iraq, including by blogging about these issues.
On 11 December the two human rights defenders were on their way to buy tents for the protesters at Liberation Square in Baghdad when they disappeared for several hours. They were located through their phones with the help of a telecommunications company. Since then, Omar Al-Amri and Salman Khairallah have been arbitrarily detained.
The two human rights defenders were not allowed to have their lawyer present during interrogation, nor have they been allowed any contact with their lawyer. Family visits and calls have also not been permitted since their detention. The two human rights defenders are still held for interrogation.
Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention of two human rights defenders Omar Al-Amri and Salman Khairallah. Front Line Defenders believes that they are being targeted solely because of their peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.
