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Aban Elias was born and raised in Iraq. He and his family left Iraq and moved to America to avoid persecution from Saddam Hussein. In the U.S., Aban became an American citizen and raised his family in Denver, Colorado. His wife is a Jordanian-American and together they have three young children.

Aban worked for the Colorado Department of Transportation before opening his own small construction company. Shortly after American troops took control of Iraq, the U.S. government put out a call for contractors to help rebuild Iraq. Having the advantage of the Iraqi language and construction skills, Aban decided to answer the call to help rebuild his home country.

After being in Iraq for only several weeks, Aban was kidnapped in May 2004. His captors released a tape of a blindfolded Aban pleading for his life to Arabic-language TV station Al Arabiya. The footage was then aired in the U.S. on MSNBC.

Throughout the following months the American networks reported the story, and it was a big local story in Denver. The Congresswoman from Aban's district in Denver and the Governor of Colorado promised Aban's family that they would try their hardest to find some answers. But as days turned into months, with no further news of Aban, the local and national media began to forget about the story.

Aban's family are hopeful that he is still alive. But mixed with their sorrow is anger and confusion.  How can an American citizen, helping rebuild Iraq in the name of his adopted country, be so easily forgotten?

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About Al Jazeera - Witness

Rageh Omaar presents Witness, a half-hour daily documentary series which features short, specially commissioned or acquired films gathered from independent filmmakers.
 
Each documentary reveals the unknown lives of ordinary people, following their lives, telling their stories and portraying the challenges that confront them. Our witnesses are people in a situation or those who have observed them first hand.
 
The films cover conflict, belief, the past and the future and as well as bringing new stories to light they showcase the talents of a new breed of multi-skilled, frontline journalist. In the studio, Rageh will further explore the issues raised in the films, with expert guests on the subject matter and the filmmakers themselves.