ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The trial of the main suspect in the killing of Husham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi security analyst, was adjourned to March on Thursday, with the court failing to issue a verdict on the case over two years after the assassination.
Hashimi was gunned down outside his home in east Baghdad's Zayuna neighborhood in July 2020 by masked assailants on a motorcycle. His assassination was widely condemned by both the Iraqi and international communities.
A family relative of Hashimi told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir that the reason for the adjournment is that the suspect’s lawyers have asked the court to summon a number of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members to testify that the accused was on duty at the time of the assassination.
The trial has been adjourned to March 8, 2023.
The suspect, police officer Ahmed al-Kinani, was arrested in July 2021 and confessed to carrying out the assassination. Eight court sessions on the case have been held since September 2021, but the court is yet to convict Kinani of the murder.
Born in Baghdad in 1973, Hashimi was a leading security expert, member of the Iraq Advisory Council and advisor to the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). He also focused on the role of Shiite militias in Iraq, and was a strong supporter of the Tishreen protest movement that swept across the country in October 2019.
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.”
