Iraq sentences killer of security expert Husham al-Hashimi to death

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi court in Baghdad on Sunday sentenced the convicted killer of Iraqi security expert Husham al-Hashimi to death three years after his assassination which sparked public outrage at the time.

Hashimi was gunned down outside his house in east Baghdad’s Zayuna neighborhood in July 2020 by masked assailants. His assassination was widely condemned by the Iraqi public and the international community.

“The Rusafa Criminal Court issued the death sentence against the criminal (Ahmad Hamdawi Awaid) for the crime of killing the security expert (Husham al-Hashimi),” Iraq’s judiciary announced.

Born in Baghdad in 1973, Hashimi was a leading security expert, member of the Iraq Advisory Council, and former advisor to the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). He also focused on the role of Shiite militias in Iraq, and was a strong, vocal supporter of the Tishreen protest movement that swept across Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in October 2019.

Before his assassination, Hashimi received death threats from hardline factions of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), his associates said at the time.

The main suspect in the trial, a policeman, was arrested in July 2021 and confessed to carrying out the assassination. The conviction on Sunday came after eight court sessions were previously held on the crime since September 2021.

Former Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi - a close friend of Hashimi - said following his assassination that “Iraq will not sleep until the murderers are brought to justice for the crimes they committed.” However, many more have been slain since then, with similar promises made to reveal their killers.

Iraqi activists are frequently targeted by militias and armed groups in the country.

In its annual World Report 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said “the Iraqi government failed in 2021 to deliver on promises to hold to account those responsible for the abuse of protestors, activists, journalists.”

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