Iraqi authorities are facing calls for a prompt and independent investigation into the death of a 22-year-old man held by anti-narcotics police in the southern city of Najaf in late June, a day after officers removed him from a hospital where he was being treated for severe abdominal pain. Human Rights Watch, which examined the case, said the decision to remove him from medical care also warrants scrutiny.
The man, Muhsin Ali Kani, went to Al-Najaf Teaching Hospital on June 25 after swallowing four bags containing crystal methamphetamine, according to an account his uncle gave the organisation. A doctor notified the police — a step required of doctors in Iraq when they determine a patient is or was under the influence of drugs. Officers initially agreed to let Kani finish his treatment, the uncle said, but arrested him despite a deteriorating condition and a heart rate of around 170 beats per minute. The next day the family was told to collect his body from the forensic medicine department.
Competing accounts
Najaf’s General Directorate for Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs, which reports to the Interior Ministry, told local media that Kani was detained after tests confirmed drug use and after he told doctors he had swallowed the bags. It said his condition later worsened and that he died while being taken from the police station back to the hospital, and that an investigative committee had been formed. In a further statement on July 2, the directorate said official records did not support claims circulating about the cause of death.
An autopsy attributed the death to methamphetamine overdose and described other injuries — including abrasions on the wrists consistent with handcuffs — as superficial and insufficient on their own to cause death. An independent forensic pathologist who reviewed the family’s photographs and the autopsy report agreed with that conclusion, while noting inconclusive horizontal marks across the lower and mid back that could be bruising from blows with a linear object. The family received the body on June 29.
Third reported custody death this year
This was the third reported death in state custody in Najaf in 2026; the other two were reportedly linked to abuse. Iraq has intensified its campaign against narcotics trafficking, seizing more than 1.7 tons of illicit drugs this year. Iraqi media reported in May that courts had handed down 42 death sentences and 357 life sentences against convicted traffickers so far in 2026.
“Any death in state custody raises questions around the treatment of a detainee, but detention while receiving medical treatment should sound alarm bells,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. Removing Kani from hospital without ensuring continued treatment may have violated his rights to life and health, the organisation said, given the heightened duty of care states owe people they detain, including prompt access to medical attention in urgent cases. It also criticised the directorate’s public reference to earlier drug convictions involving Kani’s relatives, noting that criminal responsibility is individual.
This report was produced by the HuMedia newsroom.
