Lebanon investigates former Iraqi MP Alwani’s death in Beirut
Lebanese authorities are investigating the death of former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani after his body was found in a Beirut apartment. Iraq’s embassy is awaiting the Lebanese security report. His office described the death as an assassination, while a judicial source cited preliminary findings of strangulation. The circumstances remain under investigation, with no established political motive.
Geopolitics··Midday
A Beirut apartment becomes the focus of the inquiry
Lebanese authorities have opened an investigation after former Iraqi parliamentarian Ahmed al-Alwani was found dead in an apartment in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. The apartment is in Tariq al-Jdideh, a neighbourhood south of the city centre. His death has drawn the involvement of Iraq’s embassy as Lebanese security and judicial authorities examine the circumstances.[1], [2]
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said prosecutor Ahmed Rami al-Hajj was overseeing the case. The investigation is being conducted by the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces. Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammed Reda al-Husseini, said the embassy was awaiting the Lebanese agencies’ final report to clarify how the former lawmaker died.[1], [2]
Preliminary findings and an assassination allegation emerge
A Lebanese judicial source told the French news agency AFP that preliminary findings indicated strangulation. The source said a Lebanese national suspected of involvement had been arrested and two Syrian suspects were being sought. These are an unnamed source’s account of the early investigation. Al-Alwani’s office called the death an assassination and demanded that investigators identify those who planned and carried it out.[1]
Alwani had left prison under Iraq’s amnesty
Al-Alwani formerly represented Anbar, a province in western Iraq. He became prominent during protests in 2012 and 2013 against then-prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which protesters accused of marginalising Sunnis. He criticised Iranian influence and Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq. Iraqi security forces arrested him during a raid on his home in Ramadi in December 2013.[1]
He received a death sentence on terrorism charges in 2014 and spent more than a decade in prison. He was released in April 2025 under Iraq’s General Amnesty Law. Al-Monitor also reported that the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the international organisation of national parliaments, had long sought his release and alleged that he was tortured in custody.[1], [2]
