Lebanon's Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Judge Ahmad Rami al-Hajj ordered the handover of the body of former Iraqi MP Ahmed al-Alwani to the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut for transfer to Baghdad, at the request of his family. A judicial source explained that X-rays conducted Thursday on al-Alwani’s body revealed a quantity of fluid in the victim's lower abdomen and pelvis. It said the judiciary had ordered an autopsy to determine the nature of the fluid and whether it was blood, which could indicate that he had been beaten and suffered internal bleeding. However, the Iraqi Embassy asked the judiciary to forego the autopsy and transfer the body to Baghdad so that those procedures could be carried out there. The request was granted. The judicial source said that determining the causes of death can be accomplished once the suspects or those accused in the crime are arrested and through their confessions. The source also revealed that two individuals who sold phone lines to the perpetrators in the Tariq al-Jdideh area in Beirut have been placed under investigation, with no decision made yet on whether to detain or release them. The judicial source further noted that Lebanon has so far received no response from Damascus about the arrest and extradition of the two Syrian suspects who fled into Syrian territory.
