On March 17, 2017, members of the Intelligence Department of the 16th Iraqi Army Division, wearing civilian clothes, raided Saif Al Islam Al Rifai’s mother’s house and abducted him. The next day, a picture of Al Rifai, handcuffed, was leaked on social media, but was later removed.

On April 1, 2017, Al Rifai was seen, handcuffed, by a former detainee in a detention centre in the Nineveh Governorate. According to the former detainee, Al Rifai bore clear signs of torture. The next month, Al Rifai was seen again by a former detainee, this time inside the Al Faisaliah prison, in east of Mosul.

Since his disappearance, Al Rifai’s family has unsuccessfully tried to locate him. In 2018, they communicated with the Human Rights Committee in the Iraqi Parliament and with the ICRC offices in Nineveh and Duhok, but to no avail.

In July 2020, a member of the Intelligence Department in Neveneh informally told Al Rifai’s family that he had been charged under article 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law by the Investigation Court of Nineveh. However, they were unable to hire a lawyer to obtain more information due to financial reasons.

Human rights organisation reported about human rights violations committed by the 16th Iraqi Army Division in context of the liberation of Mosul in 2017.

On August 28, 2020 MENA Rights Group and the Iraqi War Crimes Documentation Center requested the urgent intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.