A police officer concerned within the homicide of the distinguished educational and safety professional has been sentenced to demise.
An Iraqi court docket has sentenced to demise a police officer, Ahmed Hamdawi Oueid al-Kenani, who was accused of main a gaggle that gunned down well-known analyst and authorities adviser Hisham al-Hashimi three years in the past in Baghdad’s Ziyouna district.
A Baghdad court docket issued a demise sentence on Sunday towards al-Kenani beneath Iraqi counterterrorism legal guidelines, a judicial authority assertion mentioned.
Al-Hashimi, a distinguished educational and authorities adviser who was an professional on Sunni armed teams similar to ISIL (ISIS) working in Iraq and who had shut contacts with high Iraqi decision-makers, was shot lifeless exterior his dwelling in July 2020 by 4 males on two bikes.
Al-Hashimi had additionally been outspoken towards highly effective Shia armed actors aligned with Iran, which had angered Tehran-backed Shia factions in Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary community.
The Hashd holds the second-biggest bloc in Iraq’s parliament and controls huge monetary property.
Al-Hashimi’s demise and al-Kenani’s arrest
Reported safety footage from a digicam close to al-Hashimi’s dwelling on July 6, 2020 confirmed a masked gunman stroll as much as his white SUV and hearth a number of gunshots by means of the driving force’s window.
Because the hitman escaped, al-Hashimi’s three younger boys had been seen serving to neighbours pull his bullet-riddled physique from the automotive.
Simply over a yr later, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi introduced that suspects in his adviser’s homicide had been arrested.
Iraqi state tv then aired a video displaying al-Kenani sporting a brown jumpsuit, saying he led the group that killed al-Hashimi.
The surveillance footage of the assault was proven on state TV, which appeared to corroborate this.
After the arrest, al-Kadhimi mentioned on Twitter, “We promised to seize Husham Alhashimi’s killers. We fulfilled that promise.”
Al Rassafa Felony Courtroom Sentences Demise to the officer within the Ministry of Inside “Ahmed Hamdawi Ouaid” Killer of Safety Knowledgeable Hisham Al-Hashimi in response to article 4 of antiterrorism regulation (No. 13 for 2005) after defferring the choice for 10 events. pic.twitter.com/7cYAAH3fQ3
— Dr. Ali Al Bayati | د. علي البياتي (@aliakramalbayat) May 7, 2023
Media weren’t allowed entry to the court docket on Sunday, however a lawyer who attended the session mentioned al-Kenani didn’t say something in response to the decide’s ruling.
He can attraction the sentence, a spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad mentioned.
In 2020, authorities officers described al-Hashimi’s demise as a focused killing, however didn’t accuse any group particularly.
Iran-aligned paramilitary officers denied any position within the killing, and no organisation has claimed to have carried out the homicide.