Kidney of Iraqi soldier stolen while in government hospital in Baghdad

Iraqi Defence Minister Irfan Al-Hayali ordered yesterday for the opening of an investigation into an Iraqi soldier’s claim that he had his kidney stolen when he was admitted to government hospital in Baghdad in 2014, Turkish Anadolu reported.

The Iraqi soldier, identified as Raed Asi Shakeer, was admitted to the Al-Kadhimiyah Education Hospital in the Iraqi capital after he received a shoulder wound during clashes with Daesh.

Earlier this week, the soldier revealed during a television show that he had one of his kidneys stolen while he was being treated in this hospital in one of the capital’s main Shia districts in 2014. He said that he had been trying to reach the defence minister or other officials responsible for the welfare of soldiers in order to investigate his case since 2014.

Read: 7 hostages released in Iraq

During the past two days, hundreds of Iraqi social media activists appealed for the defence minister to interfere in this case and punish those responsible for this theft.

Meanwhile, the hospital denied that the soldier had his kidney stolen and forcibly removed while he was being treated there.

Speaking to Anadolu, the director of the hospital, Abdulrahman Ismail, said: “He [the soldier] was not admitted to the operations theatre and what he said about the theft of his kidney is false.”

Local reports in Iraq show that stealing human organs has become common in Iraq, while the government claims it has broken up many gangs active in illegal human organ trafficking. However, hospitals are still at the mercy of Shia militias who operate smuggling networks, including in illicit human organs removed from unwilling or sedated patients.