Former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani found dead in Beirut

Lebanese security and judicial officials told AP News that former Iraqi member of parliament Ahmed al-Alwani was found dead in a Beirut apartment on Monday night, days after arriving in Lebanon. The officials said he had been hit on the head and then strangled.

Al-Alwani flew into Beirut from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil five days before his body was found, the officials said. He initially reserved a room at a hotel in Beirut's commercial Hamra district, then moved into an apartment in the Tariq Jadida neighborhood. The apartment was rented for two days for $200 by two Syrians and a Lebanese national, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

When the real estate agent tried to reach al-Alwani after the two days had passed, he did not answer, the four security and two judicial officials said. Police entered the apartment on Monday night and found him dead. Police intelligence is questioning the taxi driver who picked him up from the airport, and a search is ongoing for the men who rented the apartment.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the country's public prosecutor, Judge Ahmad Rami al-Haj, is following the investigation into the killing.

Al-Alwani was a Sunni Muslim and former member of Iraq's parliament who spent over a decade in prison in his home country, AP reported. He was arrested in Iraq in December 2013 after being sought on terrorism charges for inciting violence against the Shiite-led government. During the arrest in Ramadi, in Iraq's western province of Anbar, his brother, five guards and two troops were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces as his entourage resisted.

The other outlets covering his disappearance and death framed him as an opponent of Iran-backed Iraqi factions. Iran International reported that the former Iraqi lawmaker opposed to Iran-backed factions was missing, while Ynetnews described him as a former Iraqi lawmaker and Iran critic found dead in a Beirut apartment and raised the question of whether he was lured and murdered. Al Jazeera reported that former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani was found dead in Beirut. Shafaq News reported that the al-Alwani family denied the former MP had been summoned to Lebanon.