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Father of human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb assassinated

Status: 
Father Killed
About the situation

On 10 March 2021, Jaseb Hatteb, father of human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb, was assassinated by an unknown militant in the city of Amarah. The family of the human rights defender believes that Jaseb Hatteb was assassinated as result of his efforts to find his son Ali Jaseb Hatteb who was abducted and disappeared on 8 October 2019.

About the HRD

Ali Jasseb Al HattabAli Jaseb Hattab is a human rights defender and lawyer, as well as a member of the Advocates for the Protesters Rights Commission. His work consists of advocating for the rights of political prisoners, and documentinghuman rights violations in Iraq. The human rights defender was abducted by a militant group in the city of Maysan on 8 October 2019, and his whereabouts remain unknown. His father, Jaseb, led a campaign to find his son.

16 March 2021
Father of human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb assassinated

On 10 March 2021, Jaseb Hatteb, father of human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb, was assassinated by an unknown militant in the city of Amarah. The family of the human rights defender believes that Jaseb Hatteb was assassinated as result of his efforts to find his son Ali Jaseb Hatteb who was abducted and disappeared on 8 October 2019.

Ali Jaseb Hattab is a human rights defender and lawyer, as well as a member of the Advocates for the Protesters Rights Commission. His work consists of advocating for the rights of political prisoners, and documentinghuman rights violations in Iraq. The human rights defender was abducted by a militant group in the city of Maysan on 8 October 2019, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

On 10 March 2021 at approximately 6:00 pm, on a street in the city of Amarah in southern Iraq, a masked militant on a motorcycle shot Jaseb Hatteb multiple times, killing him. An hour before he was assassinated, Jaseb Hatteb had been attending an event marking the anniversary of the killing of a civil society activist in the city of Maysan. The police in Amarah have opened an investigation into the assassination of Jaseb Hattab, however the family do not believe the investigation to be either independent or impartial. Prior to his assassination, Jaseb Hatteb had received verbal threats from members of a militant group. In a video posted on social media, he called on the Iraqi government to protect him against the threats he had been receiving. However, the government has reportedly attributed his killing to tribal conflicts, rather than any militant group.

Jaseb Hatteb was intent on uncovering his son’s whereabouts, and led a peaceful campaign against the militant group believed to be responsible for his disappearance. In the campaign, Jaseb Hattab demanded that the militant group disclose the whereabouts of his son, and threatened to sue the leader of the group. He was known for holding pictures of his son during peaceful protests and demonstrations, and had been caring for Ali Jaseb Hattab’s children since he was forcibly disappeared.

Human rights defenders and their families in Iraq are regularly targeted and subjected to harassment by militant groups in the country. Since the beginning of the peaceful anti-corruption demonstrations in October 2019, several Iraqi human rights defenders have been assassinated. Human rights defender Safaa Al-Saray was killed on 28 October 2019, during a peaceful demonstration in Baghdad, and on 17 August 2020, woman human rights defender Lodya Remon Albarty was the victim of an assassination attempt.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the assassination of Jaseb Hatteb and believes he was assassinated as a result of his peaceful efforts and activities to reveal the whereabouts of his son, human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb.

Front Line Defenders urges the Iraqi authorities to Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the assassination of Jaseb Hatteb, and of the abduction of human rights defender Ali Jaseb Hatteb, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards.