BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer blamed for leading a group that gunned down well-known analyst and government adviser Hisham al-Hashemi three years ago in Baghdad.
Hashemi, who had advised the government on defeating Sunni Muslim Islamic State militants and curbing the influence of the pro-Iran Shi’ite militias, was shot dead outside his Baghdad family home in July 2020 by men on a motorbike.
A Baghdad court issued a death sentence on Sunday against Ahmed Hamdawi under Iraqi counter-terrorism laws, a judicial authority statement said.
Media were not allowed access, but a lawyer who attended the court session said Hamdawi did not say anything in the court in response to the judge’s ruling.
He can appeal the sentence, a spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad said.
In 2021, Iraqi state television aired a video showing Hamdawi saying he led the group that killed Hashemi.
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The government officials then described the killing of Hashemi, who had written about politics, Islamic State and the role of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, as a targeted killing but did not accuse any particular group.
Iran-aligned paramilitary officials denied any role in the killing. Some Islamic State supporters cheered his death, but no group had claimed the murder.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; editing by Barbara Lewis)