Judicial Council: There Was Insufficient Evidence To Conduct the Trial Of Qassem Musleh On Killing Activist Ihab Al-Wazani

Baghdad The Supreme Judicial Council disclosed the procedures related to the investigation case with the commander of West Anbar operations for the Popular Mobilization Forces, Qassem Musleh, who was released today, Wednesday.

The media center of the council said in a press statement, “The judiciary deals with any case presented to the courts according to the evidence obtained and stipulated in the law, and there is a difference between the preliminary investigation procedures and the following, as the judiciary may issue an arrest or summons warrant against a specific person according to information, provided by the security investigation bodies of the executive authority, and after the arrest warrant is implemented, the judiciary, in cooperation with the security services, will investigate the crime attributed to those against whom the arrest warrant was issued.”

It added, “If there is evidence that requires referring him to the court for a trial for the crime, the investigative judge takes the decision to refer, and if the investigation authorities do not provide sufficient evidence against the accused, the investigation is closed against him and he is released.”

On the case of the assassination of activist Ihab al-Wazani, the Judicial Council said, “After clarification from the judges specialized in the investigation, it was found that Qassem Musleh was accused of killing the activist Ihab al-Wazani, but no evidence was presented against him, especially that during his presence before the judges and the recording of his statements, it was proven through the passport information he was outside Iraq upon the assassination of al-Wazani, and he denied committing or participating in this crime, and the investigative court did not find any evidence to prove his involvement in that crime, directly or indirectly, whether by instigation or otherwise,” noting that “the decision was taken to release him after he was placed in detention for 12 days during which exceptional efforts were made to obtain any evidence related to that crime, but the investigation authorities were unable to provide evidence, since al-Wazani family, while writing down their statements, did not provide any evidence regarding that, according to the law.

The Judicial Council affirmed, “The crime of assassinating of al-Wazani activist is considered one of the terrorist crimes for which the law is punishable by death, and in the face of this severe punishment, there was not enough evidence to conduct the trial of Musleh for it, and the imposition of this severe punishment in the absence of evidence.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency