ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Former Iraqi Sunni politician and lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani’s body was found in an apartment in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported late Tuesday. Iraqi authorities are following up on the results of the investigations.
The prosecutor of the Lebanese Court of Cassation “Judge [Ahmed Rami] al-Haj has taken charge of the case file and is directly supervising the preliminary investigations” conducted by security forces, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding that efforts are ongoing to “uncover the circumstances of the crime and determine how it occurred.”
Iraqi Ambassador to Beirut Mohammed Reza Al-Husseini confirmed the assasination.
"We are in contact with the Lebanese security authorities to follow up on the circumstances of Alwani’s killing, and we are awaiting the final report from the Lebanese security agencies to officially declare the details of the crime,” he said in a statement carried by the state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA).
No official details surrounding his death have been immediately released.
Lebanese media has reported that Alwani was strangled to death. They also mention that one out of two suspects have been arrested.
Alwani, 57, was a Sunni politician from the Iraqi province of Anbar. He was arrested at his home in its capital of Ramadi in December 2013, hours after engaging in armed clashes with security forces. His brother, Ali al-Alwani, and a number of his bodyguards were killed in the confrontations.
An outspoken critic of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Alwani was a leading figure and organizer of the massive Sunni anti-government protest camps established along the international highway near Ramadi throughout 2013.
Sunni protests began after Maliki’s government arrested Rafi al-Issawi, then finance minister. Sunni populations saw the arrest as an attempt to sideline the group in the post-2003 political system led by the majority-based Shiite rule.
In November 2014, Alwani was sentenced to death by hanging. However, after spending over a decade on death row, advocacy from the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and local tribal mediation eventually led to his acquittal and formal release on April 23, 2025.
He then immediately relocated to Erbil. Media reports say he arrived in Beirut on Thursday, days before his assasination.
The prosecutor of the Lebanese Court of Cassation “Judge [Ahmed Rami] al-Haj has taken charge of the case file and is directly supervising the preliminary investigations” conducted by security forces, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding that efforts are ongoing to “uncover the circumstances of the crime and determine how it occurred.”
Iraqi Ambassador to Beirut Mohammed Reza Al-Husseini confirmed the assasination.
"We are in contact with the Lebanese security authorities to follow up on the circumstances of Alwani’s killing, and we are awaiting the final report from the Lebanese security agencies to officially declare the details of the crime,” he said in a statement carried by the state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA).
No official details surrounding his death have been immediately released.
Lebanese media has reported that Alwani was strangled to death. They also mention that one out of two suspects have been arrested.
Alwani, 57, was a Sunni politician from the Iraqi province of Anbar. He was arrested at his home in its capital of Ramadi in December 2013, hours after engaging in armed clashes with security forces. His brother, Ali al-Alwani, and a number of his bodyguards were killed in the confrontations.
An outspoken critic of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Alwani was a leading figure and organizer of the massive Sunni anti-government protest camps established along the international highway near Ramadi throughout 2013.
Sunni protests began after Maliki’s government arrested Rafi al-Issawi, then finance minister. Sunni populations saw the arrest as an attempt to sideline the group in the post-2003 political system led by the majority-based Shiite rule.
In November 2014, Alwani was sentenced to death by hanging. However, after spending over a decade on death row, advocacy from the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and local tribal mediation eventually led to his acquittal and formal release on April 23, 2025.
He then immediately relocated to Erbil. Media reports say he arrived in Beirut on Thursday, days before his assasination.
