ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Relatives and tribal members gathered in the capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province on Wednesday for the memorial service of former Iraqi Sunni lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani, 57, whose body was found late Tuesday inside an apartment in Beirut.
One of Alwani’s cousins accused Lebanese Hezbollah of the killing, attributing the assassination to Alwani’s firm political stance against the group and its affiliated armed factions in Iraq.
"All indications suggest that the computer system at Rafik Hariri Airport in Beirut was hacked by Lebanese Hezbollah, especially since Dr. Ahmed had previously expressed his political views freely regarding this party and its proxies in Iraq," his cousin, Ammar al-Alwani, told Rudaw’s Shko Omer.
Rudaw could not immediately confirm the above statements against the Iran-backed group. However, the Sunni politician was a prominent critic of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a key organizer of the Sunni anti-government protest movement in Ramadi throughout 2013.
Lebanese authorities announced finding the body of Alwani late Tuesday. While local media suggested that he was strangled to death, nothing conclusive has been established.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi said Wednesday that Alwani died “under mysterious circumstances,” requesting Iraqi and Lebanese governments to uncover “the truth” surrounding his death.
Alwani was arrested by Iraqi forces in late 2013 and spent ten years in prison before being released following tribal mediation and advocacy efforts. Alwani had been living in Erbil since 2023 until his sudden departure for Beirut on November 5.
He had maintained his political postures after relocation to Erbil. In an interview in July, Alwani claimed that “Maliki’s government ordered the arrest” on account of his stance in facing “corruption, extremism, and parties’ allegiances to other countries.”
Hezbollah is an integral part of the Iran-led Resistance Axis. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iraqi armed factions loyal to Iran, is also part of the axis.
After the US-led invasion of Iraq and the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein, Sunni groups were sidelined by Shiite political parties.
Sectarian conflict dominated the Iraqi political scene between 2006 and 2008, with tens of thousands killed in the country, excluding the Kurdistan Region.
In 2012, Maliki’s government arrested Rafi al-Issawi, then finance minister. The arrest was widely viewed by Sunni populations as an attempt to continue excluding the group in the post-2003 political system led by the majority-based Shiite rule.
Alwani was arrested at his home in the capital of Ramadi in December 2013, hours after engaging in armed clashes with security forces. His arrest came after he was accused of masterminding the Sunni protests.
