Family of slain security expert urge Iraqi court not to overturn killer’s death sentence

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The family of murdered Iraqi security expert Husham al-Hashimi on Thursday called on authorities to not give in to political pressure following the revocation of the death sentence of the man accused of his murder by an Iraqi cassation court.

A document seen by Rudaw English and signed by Judge Faeq Zaidan, head of the Iraqi Cassation Court, dated July 31, shows that the death sentence of Ahmad Hamdawi Awaid, the main suspect in the murder of Hashimi, has been revoked. The court stated that the committee established by then prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, did not “have the legal authority to investigate the case”. 

The document added that the court decided that a new investigation of the case will be conducted by the Central Investigation Court. 

“We call on Mr. Faeq Zaidan, just as he signed the decision to overturn the verdict for obvious political reasons… to follow up on the evidence obtained and not to leave room for changing the course of the investigation,” read the statement from Hashimi’s family.

Hashimi’s family also called on the judge to not succumb to political pressure from “the near or the far”.

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.

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 served as a nonresident fellow with the Center for Global Policy (CGP).

Hashimi’s family expressed their shock at the decision given that Awaid previously admitted that he murdered the security expert.

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

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.

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 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that in Iraq “between 2020 and October 2022, in the cases of killings, assassinations, kidnappings, and injuries Human Rights Watch investigated, barely any of the legal complaints filed by families and individuals had progressed towards achieving justice.”