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Iraq Denies Claims about ‘Disappearance’ of 50,000 Pakistanis in its Territories

Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
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Iraq Denies Claims about ‘Disappearance’ of 50,000 Pakistanis in its Territories

Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)

The case of the “disappearance” of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq continued to stir debate as people flocked to Iraq’s Karbala to visit religious sites.

The issue has also shed light on how some tourists and visitors to the religious sites exploit their trips to find jobs in Iraq without an official permit.

In a statement on Sunday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry revealed that it had contacted Pakistan’s Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain to clarify his remarks about the disappearance.

The minister confirmed that there was a misunderstanding about his comments, refuting media claims that 50,000 had gone missing, it added.

He revealed that he would be summoning the media outlet that published the false news.

The minister had tweeted on the X platform that the Iraqi ambassador in Pakistan had informed him that 50,000 Pakistanis had failed to return home after visiting Karbala.

The minister then posted a clarification, saying that his remarks “were taken out of context and used to harm Pakistan.”

In fact, the figure of 50,000 refers to numbers unaccounted for in recent years, not this year alone, he stressed. Moreover, these people have not gone missing; rather, they have not returned home.

He stressed that they are not affiliated with any party or organization – a reference to claims that the Pakistanis may have been recruited to join armed groups.

Iraqi authorities have been grappling with the illegal employment of foreign workers given the unemployment and low job opportunities in the country.

The illegal presence of foreigners has also caused security problems. In mid-July, security forces announced that they busted a Pakistani cell that had kidnapped a fellow Pakistani in Baghdad.

Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Iranians and Syrians often flock to Iraq to visit religious sites or for tourism in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Some have exploited their presence there to take up jobs illegally.

Official figures have revealed that some 800,000 foreigners are working in Iraq without legal permits.

In an attempt to curb the phenomenon, authorities said employers could grant their foreign workers a one-year work permit.

This puts the ball in the employers and workers’ court to sort out their legal affairs, an official source at the labor ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Security forces in Baghdad announced on Sunday the arrest of 69 foreigners for working in Iraq illegally.

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Arab World

Lebanese Official Says US Wants ‘Real Action’ on Money Laundering

Members of Lebanon's group Hezbollah carry the coffins of comrades killed in recent Israeli attacks during their funeral in the southern city of Nabatiyeh on November 2, 2025. (AFP)
Members of Lebanon's group Hezbollah carry the coffins of comrades killed in recent Israeli attacks during their funeral in the southern city of Nabatiyeh on November 2, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanese Official Says US Wants ‘Real Action’ on Money Laundering

Members of Lebanon's group Hezbollah carry the coffins of comrades killed in recent Israeli attacks during their funeral in the southern city of Nabatiyeh on November 2, 2025. (AFP)
Members of Lebanon's group Hezbollah carry the coffins of comrades killed in recent Israeli attacks during their funeral in the southern city of Nabatiyeh on November 2, 2025. (AFP)

A Lebanese official said Monday that a US delegation on a visit to discuss ways to cut off Iran-backed Hezbollah's funding streams had called on Beirut to take "real action" on money laundering.

The delegation headed by senior director for counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka held talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Monday.

Salam discussed with US officials "the government's efforts to combat money laundering" and "strengthening state authority over ports and airports", according to his office.

A Lebanese official who requested anonymity told AFP that the US delegation "delivered a very firm and clear message: they want real action before the end of the year".

"They want Lebanese authorities to counter money laundering, the cash economy and close Al-Qard al-Hassan," the official said, referring to a Hezbollah-linked financial firm sanctioned by Washington.

Since January 2025, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have "transferred over $1 billion" to Hezbollah, "mostly through money exchange companies", said a US Treasury statement.

Aoun said he told US officials on Sunday that "Lebanon strictly applies the measures adopted to prevent money laundering, smuggling, or its use in financing terrorism".

Hezbollah was severely weakened in its most recent war with Israel, which was halted by a November 2024 ceasefire.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has kept up attacks on Lebanon, where it continues to hold five positions.

Aoun has called for direct talks with Israel to end the attacks.

Gorka said on X on Monday that today Aoun "is positioned to help realize (US) President Donald Trump's vision for peace in the Middle East under a new, broader Abraham Accords".

A number of Arab countries normalized ties with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.

The United States has intensified pressure on the Lebanese authorities to disarm Hezbollah, a plan opposed by the group and its allies.

On Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on three Hezbollah members allegedly involved in the transfer of tens of millions of dollars from Iran, the group's main sponsor.

Part of the funding was via money exchange businesses that operate in cash, the US Treasury said.

Arab World

Lebanese Authorities Release Hannibal Gaddafi on Bail

An undated picture allegedly found in the personal laptop of Hannibal al-Gaddafi and released by Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters on Sept. 7, 2011 shows Hannibal Gaddafi in Rome. (AFP)
An undated picture allegedly found in the personal laptop of Hannibal al-Gaddafi and released by Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters on Sept. 7, 2011 shows Hannibal Gaddafi in Rome. (AFP)
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Lebanese Authorities Release Hannibal Gaddafi on Bail

An undated picture allegedly found in the personal laptop of Hannibal al-Gaddafi and released by Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters on Sept. 7, 2011 shows Hannibal Gaddafi in Rome. (AFP)
An undated picture allegedly found in the personal laptop of Hannibal al-Gaddafi and released by Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters on Sept. 7, 2011 shows Hannibal Gaddafi in Rome. (AFP)

Lebanese authorities released the son of late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi on Monday after he paid a $900,000 bail, ending his 10-year detention for allegedly withholding information about a missing Lebanese cleric, security officials and a member of his defense team said. 

One of Hannibal Gaddafi's lawyers, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, told The Associated Press that Gaddafi was released Monday evening after necessary paperwork was finished. 

Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, also confirmed that Gaddafi was set free. 

The release came days after Lebanese authorities lifted a travel ban and reduced the bail for Gaddafi, paving the way for his release. 

Gaddafi, 49, has been in pre-trial detention for nearly a decade after his arrest in Lebanon on charges of withholding information about the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr in Libya.  

He was two years old at the time of Sadr's disappearance.  

In October, a judge ordered Gaddafi’s release against bail set at $11 million, which was reduced to $900,000 last week after an appeal by his defense team.  

Gaddafi’s French lawyer Laurent Bayon told AFP his client was set to leave Lebanon for a "confidential" destination, adding that he holds a Libyan passport.  

"If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent," Bayon said.  

He said the move towards his client's release reflected a restoration of judicial independence under Lebanon's reformist government that was formed in January.  

Sadr -- the founder of the Amal movement, now an ally of the Hezbollah party -- went missing during an official visit to Libya, along with an aide and a journalist.  

Beirut blamed the disappearances on then ruler Moammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown and killed decades later in a 2011 uprising.  

Ties between the two countries have been strained ever since the trio went missing.  

Married to Lebanese model Aline Skaf, Hannibal Gaddafi fled to Syria after the start of the Libyan uprising.  

He was kidnapped in December 2015 by armed men who took him to Lebanon, where authorities released him from the kidnappers and later detained him. 

Arab World

Intense Fighting in Central Sudan Displaces 2,000 in Just Days, UN Agency Says

CORRECTS BYLINE.- This photo released by The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), shows displaced children from el-Fasher playing at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Sarah Vuylsteke/NRC via AP)
CORRECTS BYLINE.- This photo released by The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), shows displaced children from el-Fasher playing at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Sarah Vuylsteke/NRC via AP)
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Intense Fighting in Central Sudan Displaces 2,000 in Just Days, UN Agency Says

CORRECTS BYLINE.- This photo released by The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), shows displaced children from el-Fasher playing at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Sarah Vuylsteke/NRC via AP)
CORRECTS BYLINE.- This photo released by The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), shows displaced children from el-Fasher playing at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Sarah Vuylsteke/NRC via AP)

Intense fighting in central Sudan displaced some 2,000 people over the past three days, the UN migration agency said Monday, the latest in a war that has convulsed the country for more than two years and killed tens of thousands.

The International Organization for Migration said the displaced fled from several towns and villages in the area of Bara in North Kordofan province between Friday and Sunday.

Kordofan has been one of two areas, along with the western Darfur region, that recently became the epicenter of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival Rapid Support Forces.

The RSF capture of the key city of el-Fasher left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands to flee to overcrowded camps to escape reported atrocities by the paramilitary force, according to aid groups and UN officials. The IOM said nearly 92,000 people have left el-Fasher and surrounding villages, The AP news reported.

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising. The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher.

In late October, RSF fighters launched attacks in the town of Bara in North Kordofan, killing at least 47 people, including women and children, the local aid group Sudan Doctors Network said at the time.

The IOM estimated that nearly 39,000 people had fled several villages and towns in North Kordofan since Oct. 26. They were mostly headed north, toward the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and the adjacent Omdurman region, as well as Sheikan in North Kordofan.

Also Monday, the RSF claimed its fighters entered the town of Babanusa in West Kordofan province and were heading toward the army headquarters.

Salah Semsaya, a volunteer with the local group Emergency Response Rooms, told The AP that other volunteers from the town of Babanusa working with charity kitchens in the area reported a decline in the number of families coming to get food — apparently an indication that many had left or fled the area. Definitive figures could not be confirmed.

Darfur Atrocities

In Darfuean while, Sudan Doctors Network reported on Sunday that the RSF collected hundreds of bodies from the streets of el-Fasher and buried some in mass graves while burning others.

The RSF was acting in a “desperate attempt to conceal evidence of their crimes against civilians,” the network said.

Satellite images analyzed last week appeared to show the RSF disposing of bodies after they seized and rampaged through el-Fasher. Images by the Colorado-based firm Vantor show a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher on Thursday, near a collection of white objects seen days earlier in other Vantor photos.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab described the images as showing the “burning of objects that may be consistent with bodies.”