An Iraqi police officer previously sentenced to death for the murder of a prominent security analyst who criticized a powerful Iranian-backed militia has been released after a retrial, officials announced Monday.
Interior Ministry intelligence officials said Ahmed Hamdawi al-Kinani was released after the case was reopened and a court acquitted him. It is not clear on what basis he was acquitted.
Officials with the country’s Iranian-backed militia said the court’s decision came after the case was reopened last Wednesday and al-Kinani was released on Sunday.
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Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.
Al-Kinani, who was accused of killing prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi, was arraigned on terrorism charges in a criminal court last May, according to a report by Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. The case was then transferred to the Court of Appeals for further consideration.
The Iraqi flag flies over the western suburbs of Mosul on June 2, 2017, during an ongoing offensive by Iraqi forces to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) fighters. (Photo Credit: KARIM SAHIB/AFP) (Photo Credit: KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)
Al-Hashimi, 47, was shot dead by an assailant on a motorcycle outside his home in Baghdad in July 2020 after being threatened by Iranian-backed militias. He was on his way home after giving a television interview in which he criticized attacks on overseas diplomatic establishments by armed groups.
Al-Hashimi, known for his expertise on the Islamic State, advised the U.S.-led coalition and became a vocal critic of Iranian-backed militias after the group’s defeat in December 2017. He had previously reported multiple threats from these groups. his death.
Al-Kinani, who said in a video aired by state media in 2021 that he was a police lieutenant, admitted to the killing after his arrest. Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, linked him to the paramilitary group but did not give his name.
In August last year, Iraqi judicial authorities decided to revoke the death sentence and reopen the investigation. Kataib Hezbollah, one of the country’s most powerful militias, praised the Iraqi court at the time and said al-Kinani had been unfairly accused.
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Ending Iraqi Impunity, a non-governmental organization that documents human rights abuses, said in a statement after news of al-Kinani’s release surfaced that the decision was a sign that Iraq’s judiciary had been “politicized and controlled by terrorist militias.” “This shows that it has been carried out,” he said.
