Iraq: The killer of Hisham Al-Hashemi is free and there are “zero cases” against the killers of the demonstrators
The Iraqi judiciary confirmed the acquittal and release of the killer of researcher Hisham Al-Hashemi, and while his family refused to communicate with law enforcement authorities to follow up on the case, the accused – convicted of the crime – “innocent” returned to his duties in the Ministry of Interior “naturally,” according to cross sources.
The spokeswoman for the Iraqi Judicial Council, Sinan Ghanem, said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, “An Iraqi court issued an acquittal in favor of Ahmed Hamdawi Al-Kinani. Due to insufficient evidence.”
This is the first official Iraqi statement regarding the case that preoccupied public opinion for a long time, days after leaks were published about the Criminal Court retrying Al-Kinani and releasing him, about 3 and a half years after Al-Hashemi was killed in Baghdad.
A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat, “Al-Kinani denied committing the crime before the judge, in a session that was designated to reconsider the case.”
Ahmed Al-Kinani, who was convicted of killing Al-Hashemi in 2020 and was recently acquitted (security media)
The Iraqi security authorities broadcast Al-Kinani’s confessions on July 16, 2020, 10 days after the crime occurred, in which he said that he was “among a group of people who planned and carried out the murder after following Al-Hashemi’s movements until he reached his home.”
At that time, Al-Hashemi was parking his car at night in the Zayouna neighborhood, east of the capital, when the killer got off a motorcycle, headed towards the victim, and shot him with four bullets.
Al-Kanani appeared, during the confession video, pointing to the perpetrator of the crime on a screen that was displaying content from a surveillance camera, and said: “I pulled my police pistol and killed Al-Hashemi in front of his house,” after he failed to fire his personal weapon, a “machine gun.” He is known as Locally called “treachery”.
Al-Kinani pointing to himself in a surveillance camera scene of him shooting Al-Hashemi (security media)
The security authorities showed pictures of the weapon used and its number, along with a picture of the bullet cartridge with which Al-Hashemi was killed, and said that it matched Al-Kinani’s statements and his official weapon.
Activists were surprised at how the judiciary released Al-Kanani in the presence of evidence of the weapon used, documented in confessions broadcast by the official authorities.
However, an Iraqi lawyer with close knowledge of the case told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The courts of cassation do not consider video clips as sufficient evidence for conviction, and they need something tangible such as a confession and witnesses that may issue a final ruling.”
Usually, judicial authorities issue press releases to the media about their rulings, but they did not do so after the decision to acquit Al-Kinani was issued. While the lawyer, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “The court’s routine requires that rulings be printed about a week after they are issued.”
A picture presented by the Iraqi authorities in the summer of 2020 of a government weapon that Al-Kinani used to kill Al-Hashemi
From conviction to acquittal
How did we get here? This is the most criminal case that has witnessed extreme fluctuations since the revelation of its perpetrator. Because of its connection to the person of Hisham Al-Hashemi himself, and its coincidence with stormy political transformations.
Al-Hashemi was known as a researcher specializing in the affairs of extremist groups, and he helped government authorities dismantle the structure of ISIS during the liberation battles.
Many of Al-Hashemi’s friends believe that his attempt, in the last months before his assassination, to attack the system of armed factions loyal to Iran, and his public criticism of their “extortion and murder” activities, ultimately led to his death.
Extremists supporting ISIS cheered the killing of Al-Hashemi, and much ink was spilled criticizing it by activists supporting the Shiite factions.
The case of Al-Hashemi’s killer went through different stages, starting with his arrest, then sentencing him to death in absentia, then the ruling was overturned by the Court of Cassation, and he was retried, leading to his acquittal.
Legal experts believe that the decision of the Iraqi Court of Cassation, in the summer of 2023, to cancel a committee formed by former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, which specialized in prosecuting “exceptional crimes,” was the turning point in the course of the Al-Kanani case.
The aforementioned committee was under the command of Lieutenant General Ahmed Abu Ragheef, and was charged with implementing arrest warrants against those accused of corruption and “major” cases, investigating them and referring them to the judiciary, and the Al-Hashemi case was among them.
According to a judicial document issued on March 2, 2022, Al-Kanani’s father; Hamdawi Aouid, an opposition figure, filed a lawsuit against the Prime Minister to cancel the committee that arrested his son.
A scanned copy of the Federal Court’s decision to appeal the Major Crimes Committee that investigated Al-Hashimi’s killer
The Federal Court accepted the lawsuit and canceled the committee, deeming all the measures it had taken invalid since its formation in August 2020.
The Abu Ragheef Committee carried out an arrest campaign against officials on corruption charges, but it sparked widespread controversy in political circles to the point where it was considered a “martial court.”
Despite the Federal Court’s decision to torpedo the file of Al-Hashemi’s killer, the Abu Ragheef Committee had completed the investigation and referred him to the Central Court in Rusafa, which, after eight postponements, ruled that he be executed in absentia, in May 2023.
On July 31, 2023, the Court of Cassation, headed by the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Faiq Zidan, overturned the death sentence and decided to return the case file to the Central Investigation Court in Rusafa. To carry out investigative procedures “in accordance with the rules and the law.”
During that stage, Al-Kanani did not attend any trial session, according to reliable sources, and whether he was in prison or not was a confusing mystery, and many told different stories about his smuggling or escape, which were not easy to prove.
A scanned copy of the Court of Cassation’s decision to appeal the death sentence against Al-Kinani
Iraqi politicians and journalists are circulating data indicating that Al-Kanani has “completely disappeared” since October 2022, the month in which the “Coordination Framework” coalition formed the government of Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani after a fierce political battle with the Sadrist movement, which completely left the scene since the summer of that year. .
But it was clear that the secrecy about the condition and location of the accused, throughout the trial, and the turning points that accompanied the proceedings, all reflected how the case finally reached the acquittal of the accused who was convicted.
The Court of Cassation’s decision helped to zero in on the case and open the file “cleanly without significant evidence,” so an Iraqi court decided to acquit Al-Kinani. Due to insufficient evidence, according to an Iraqi lawyer who said that he was trying to help the Al-Hashemi family manage the case, but he failed to do so.
However, an Iraqi judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the acquittal ruling does not mean closing Al-Hashemi’s case permanently; Because murders do not have a statute of limitations.”
Within two years from now, the lawsuit could be resumed against the accused, whether Al-Kanani or someone else, if new evidence appears in the case, according to what the judicial source says.
“He returned to his life and job.”
On a page on the Facebook platform, bloggers who appeared to be interested in the activity of the Kinana tribe in Iraq posted congratulations on the release of “their son, Ahmed Hamdawi Al-Kinani.”
This was hours after information about the acquittal was leaked earlier this week, followed by information about Al-Kinani’s return to his government job “normally.”
A post from the Facebook platform appears to be a congratulations from Al-Kinani’s relatives on his acquittal
A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Al-Kanani (who holds the rank of first lieutenant) began working in the Ministry of Interior.” Another source confirmed that it was “attributed to the Engineering Works Directorate.”
According to official platforms of the Ministry of Interior, “Engineering Works” has been carrying out, for years, municipal works that include paving streets in various areas, in cooperation with civil service departments.
Asharq Al-Awsat asked officials at the Ministry of Interior whether Al-Kinani had returned to work without obtaining any response, but an Iraqi officer said that “it is normal for this to happen after the acquittal.”
Al-Kanani, who was born in 1985, joined the police force in 2007 after graduating from an officers’ course in the Jordanian capital, Amman. At that time, Iraq was sending its members in the security services there to protect them from the acts of violence that were targeting Iraqi training centers and camps.
Ahmed Al-Kinani, the officer who assassinated Hisham Al-Hashemi – an archive photo of an Iraqi in front of a poster of the researcher Hisham Al-Hashemi, who was shot dead in Baghdad, July 2020 (AP)
Al-Hashemi’s “blood money”…and the family disappears
After the acquittal was issued, Asharq Al-Awsat tried to communicate with Hisham Al-Hashemi’s family, but this was difficult to do. Because a close relative told Asharq Al-Awsat that she “prefers to disappear from sight completely.”
The person close to the family, who stressed that his name should not be mentioned, explained that “judicial and security authorities informed the family, after the acquittal was issued, to come and register a legal position regarding Al-Hashemi, but they refused because of their fear of (unremitting consequences),” as he put it.
The relative claimed, quoting the family, that they did not agree to close the case by “paying blood money,” and denied that they had received any money in exchange for the settlement.
He said: “The family now prefers to stay away and be busy raising Hisham’s children, and for this reason it is wary of any step that might put it in an unbalanced confrontation with the party that ordered and planned to kill him.”
Since Al-Kinani’s acquittal, the event has not received widespread interaction, as was usual over the past two years, whenever something new occurred in the trial.
An Iraqi politician from the “State Administration” coalition, who requested to remain anonymous, said during a phone call that “the Shiite political forces concerned with the Al-Hashemi file do not expect any angry reaction from public opinion.”
The politician pointed out to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the influential forces succeeded, during the last period, in neutralizing all sources of anxiety in the Iraqi street.”
Independent MP Sajjad Salem told Asharq Al-Awsat, “This is the fourth case in which the killers have been acquitted in crimes that claimed the lives of demonstrators, activists, and researchers.” He pointed out that “the influential forces have now succeeded in completely eliminating all these issues.”
Salem talked about “submitting a draft law to prosecute the killers to provide justice to the victims and achieve justice,” and said that he “addressed the Iraqi government; To know her opinion on this matter.
But the Iraqi politician ruled out a “breakthrough” in this file. Because he saw that “the coordination framework had deeply entrenched its influence in the institutions, leaving no room for a different scenario in the future, even if Muqtada al-Sadr returned.” He said, “When the leader of the Sadrist movement returns, he will be forced to work with different political tools that will not include uprooting his opponents or fighting them. Because they closed all the loopholes, and the Al-Hashemi case was not the most dangerous for them.”
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2024-03-28 17:08:19
