On a dull December day in 2009, Rabiha al Qassab, a 63-year-old Iraqi refugee living in a quiet residential area of north London, received a telephone call that marked the beginning of a new nightmare for a family already torn apart by Iraq's political upheavals.
Her 68-year-old husband, Ramze Shihab Ahmed, had been arrested while on a visit to Iraq, and no-one knew where he was being held or what, if anything, he had been charged with.
Nine months later, Ramze is still languishing in legal limbo in a Baghdad prison. His story lays bare the horrific abuses and lack of legal process that characterise post-Saddam Iraq's detention system, which human rights groups say has scarcely improved since the darkest days of the dictator's rule.
Up until his arrest, Ramze had been living with Rabiha in the UK, leading a quiet life of trips to the park, the local mosque and making ends meet on modest benefits provided by the British government.
But even in London, events in Iraq caught up with the couple. In September 2009, Ramze heard that his son, Omar, had been arrested by government security forces and several weeks later he travelled to Iraq to try to help. Within a month, he too had been arrested.
The conviction of two leaders of the Palestine solidarity movement, Chris Nineham, the vice-chair of the...
An Israeli soldier has shared a photo online in which he appears to use a blindfolded...
Two United Nations experts have called on Israel to immediately release Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya...
The firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who received widespread criticism for her handling of the...
