Crimeupdated 22m ago2 min read
Ahmed Al-Alwani Murdered in Beirut; Lebanese Suspect Held as Authorities Probe Motives
“investigators were not ruling out the possibility that the perpetrators were Iraqi rather than Syrian nationals.”
“But he spent less than an hour at the hotel before checking out with men speaking a Syrian dialect,”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Ahmed al-Alwani was found murdered in a Beirut apartment amid a Lebanese murder investigation. A Lebanese suspect is in custody as authorities probe political motives behind the killing.
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Beirut murder investigation
Lebanese judicial and security authorities investigated the murder of former Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Alwani after his body was found in an apartment in Beirut, with a Lebanese suspect in custody and preliminary information ruling out financial motives or robbery behind the crime. A judicial source told Naharnet that the available information so far "points to the suspected involvement of three individuals, including the detained Lebanese national, and two other foreigners" who fled to Syria hours after the killing. Ahmed al-Alwani was found dead in an apartment in the Lebanese capital on November 10, and the killing raised questions about the role of Iran-backed groups in the region.
Police found his body in an apartment in Beirut's Tareeq Al Jadeeda neighbourhood after the landlord noticed an unusual smell on his way to collect the $200 per night rent. The National added that the Iraqi delegation and Iraq's National Intelligence Service were working with Lebanese authorities, while the Iraqi government said Iraq and Lebanon were working together on the investigation.
Competing motives and claims
Al Jazeera reported that al-Alwani’s office called his death an “assassination” and a “treacherous crime,” and it said the office demanded a “transparent investigation” that reveals who planned it, who carried it out and who else was involved. Relatives and tribal members gathered in Ramadi on November 11 for a memorial service, and Ammar al-Alwani accused Lebanese Hezbollah of involvement. A judicial source stressed that there were "currently no financial reasons or robbery motives explaining the crime," and it pointed toward "the hypothesis of a political crime or a tribal vendetta."
Investigators were not ruling out the possibility that the perpetrators were Iraqi rather than Syrian nationals, while investigators were focusing on whether he was deliberately lured to Beirut. A security source said a “ransom demand” was behind the kidnapping of al-Alwani, and it described the motive as obtaining a financial ransom.
Final movements and next steps
Lt Gen Saad Maan, the head of Iraq's Security Media Authority, described how al-Alwani checked out of a Beirut hotel in less than an hour after men speaking a Syrian dialect appeared to be his friends. Al-Alwani’s body was discovered after an apartment landlord noticed a foul odor, and the apartment had been rented for two days for $200. Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Reza al-Husseini said Baghdad was awaiting “the final report from the Lebanese security agencies to officially declare the details of the crime.”
The Lebanese Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation requested a DNA test to definitively confirm whether the body belongs to al-Alwani, and Judge Ahmed Rami Al-Hajj supervised the initial investigations. Lebanese authorities appointed Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj to oversee the investigation, and the investigation was carried out by the Information Branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces.