Lebanon Arrests Suspect in Killing of Former Iraqi Lawmaker
Ahmed al-Alwani, a Sunni politician released from Iraqi prison last year, was found strangled in a Beirut apartment, prompting a murder investigation.
By Vincent Parker ·
Lebanese authorities launched a murder investigation after former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani was found dead in an apartment in Beirut on Monday. The body was discovered in the Tariq Al-Jadeeda neighborhood. The National News Agency confirmed that Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj is overseeing the probe, which is being conducted by the Internal Security Forces.
A Lebanese judicial source told AFP that preliminary findings indicate al-Alwani was strangled. One Lebanese national has been arrested in connection with the death. Authorities are currently searching for two Syrian suspects who remain at large. The suspects allegedly transported al-Alwani from the airport to his hotel when he arrived in Beirut last week.
Al-Alwani’s office described the death as an assassination and a treacherous crime in a statement on X. The office demanded a transparent investigation to identify the planners and executors of the killing. It stated that the incident is not a passing event to be resolved with condolences, but a crime requiring a firm official response.
The statement emphasized that no one is above accountability, regardless of who is behind the crime. It called for the revelation of who planned the act, who carried it out, and who else was involved in the scheme.
Al-Alwani was a Sunni politician who represented the western province of Anbar in Iraq’s parliament. He gained prominence during the 2012 and 2013 protests against the Shia-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was arrested in December 2013 during a security raid on his home in Ramadi, an event in which his brother and several others were killed.
In 2014, al-Alwani was sentenced to death on terrorism charges. He spent more than a decade in detention before being released in April 2025 under Iraq’s General Amnesty Law. Iraq’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammed Reda al-Husseini, said the embassy is following the case closely. The ambassador noted that the embassy is awaiting the final report from Lebanese security agencies to disclose the circumstances of the crime.
