On June 12, 2014, Haidar Al Massoudi was returning to Camp Speicher after a vacation at his family’s home in Baghdad. During the journey, he was contacted by his family while he was in an area of Tikrit called “Exhibitions of Tikrit”, at which time he told them that he was going to proceed by taking Rashad Road in Kirkuk.

Al Massoudi’s family called him again at 11:30 a.m. on June 22, 2014, but his phone was answered by a man who identified himself as a member of Asa’ib Ahl Al Haq – a Shiite militia within the Popular Mobilization Forces. The man proceeded to ask Al Massoudi’s family about his sectarian affiliations. He hung up after they told him that Al Massoudi is Shia.

On July 25, 2014, Al Massoudi’s family travelled to Rashad in Kirkuk in an attempt to locate their son. After meeting with one of the local tribes, they were told that he was not disappeared by a member of Asa’ib Ahl Al Haq, but rather by a tribe associated with ISIS.

In November 2014, Al Massoudi’s relatives filed a number of complaints on his behalf, including to the police station and court in Al Zahoor, Baghdad.

Six months after his arrest, Al Massoudi was seen in an ISIS video, depicting kidnapped Camp Speicher soldiers. 

While there have not been any more recent sightings of Al Massoudi, other soldiers disappeared from Camp Speicher were spotted in another video in June 2017. This depicts them in a secret prison in Baghdad under the control of the Iraqi authorities. The similarities between Al Massoudi’s case and that of other disappeared Camp Speicher soldiers, make it probable that he too is being held in the detention facility.