Crimeupdated 23m ago2 min read
MapIraq Says Former MP Ahmed al-Alwani Was Killed After Beirut Hotel Stay
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Ahmed al-Alwani found dead in a Beirut apartment; Lebanese authorities treating as killing. Lebanese authorities hold a suspect in custody as investigation continues.
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Hotel to Apartment
Iraqi security officials said former Iraqi Member of Parliament Ahmed al-Alwani traveled to Beirut, checked into a hotel, and left less than an hour after receiving his room key. Major General Saad Maan said al-Alwani moved to an apartment in the Tariq al-Jadida district, where he made his final communication with family members before Lebanese authorities discovered his body at the same residence. Lebanese authorities investigated the death as a killing, and Al Jazeera reported that the body was found in an apartment in the Tariq al-Jdideh neighbourhood of Beirut on Tuesday evening.
The National News Agency said Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj personally oversaw the investigation, which Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces carried out through the Information Branch. Iraqi officials said the case remained under Lebanese jurisdiction for forensic and investigative procedures to conclude the inquiry into the death of the former Iraqi official.
Competing theories of motive
A judicial source told Naharnet that information available so far ruled out financial motives or robbery behind the murder of Ahmed al-Alwani in a residential apartment in Beirut. The judicial source said the information available so far "points to the suspected involvement of three individuals" including a detained Lebanese national and two other foreigners who fled to Syria hours after the crime. Haibat al-Halbousi called for accountability, saying al-Alwani had died “under mysterious circumstances, which demand clarifying the details of the incident and reaching the truth.”
Nawaf Salam said Beirut could not remain a “haven for crime and lawlessness,” and said the investigation would be governed “only by the law.” Al-Alwani’s office called his death an “assassination” and a “treacherous crime,” and demanded a transparent investigation that reveals who planned it, who carried it out, and who else was involved.
Investigation, DNA, and next steps
Lebanon’s judiciary refused to hand over the body pending completion of DNA tests and necessary judicial procedures, while a family delegation arrived in Beirut to receive it. Surveillance recordings showed people leaving the apartment at 16:55, about 14 minutes after a Middle East Airlines flight landed at Rafic Hariri International Airport at 16:41. The National said Iraqi authorities warned against inflaming sectarian tensions and said Iraq and Lebanon were working together on the investigation, while it described police finding al-Alwani’s body in an apartment in Beirut on Monday.
The Security Media Cell statement urged the public to await the outcome of investigations and criticized attempts to exploit the killing to stir up sectarian strife. Mohammed Reda al-Husseini said the embassy was awaiting the final report from Lebanese security agencies to “disclose the circumstances of the crime.”