Former Iraqi MP Ahmed Alwani found strangled in Beirut apartment

Former Iraqi parliamentarian Ahmed Alwani has been found dead inside an apartment in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, with authorities investigating the case as a suspected murder.

According to Arab media reports, Alwani’s body was discovered on Tuesday evening in an apartment in the Tariq al-Jadideh neighbourhood of Beirut. Lebanese security officials have reportedly classified his death as a criminal killing, although the exact circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.

A Lebanese judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that preliminary findings suggested Alwani had been strangled. Authorities have not yet released further details about the motive behind the killing.

Lebanese authorities have launched an investigation to establish what happened and identify everyone involved. According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), senior prosecutor Judge Ahmad Rami al-Hajj is personally supervising the investigation.

The responsibility for examining the case has been assigned to the Information Branch of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces.

The investigation has already led to one arrest. A Lebanese national suspected of involvement in the killing has reportedly been taken into custody, while authorities are searching for another suspect, a Syrian national, who remains at large.

Alwani’s office has strongly condemned his death, describing it in a statement posted on social media platform X as a targeted assassination and a serious act of treachery.

The statement called for a comprehensive and transparent investigation, urging authorities to identify those responsible and ensure they are held accountable.

The killing has raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the former Iraqi lawmaker’s presence in Beirut and the possible motive behind the attack. However, investigators have not publicly established a motive or confirmed whether the killing was politically motivated.

Lebanese authorities are continuing their investigation as efforts intensify to locate the remaining suspect and determine the full circumstances of Alwani’s death.