Ahmed al-Alwani found strangled to death in Beirut

Former Iraqi lawmaker Ahmed al-Alwani was found strangled to death in a Beirut apartment, a Lebanese judicial official said Tuesday.

The official said security services found Alwani's body Monday night and confirmed his identity Tuesday. His family had previously reported him missing to Lebanese authorities.

Preliminary findings indicate that Alwani was strangled in the apartment, the official said. A Lebanese national suspected of involvement has been arrested, and authorities are looking for two Syrian suspects still at large.

The official said surveillance cameras showed Alwani voluntarily arriving with two other people at the building where his body was found. The suspects had taken him from the airport to his hotel when he arrived in Beirut last week, the official said.

Alwani was sentenced to death in Iraq in 2014 for the murder of two soldiers but was released from prison last year. He came from the prominent Sunni Albou Alwan tribe and was a supporter of a 2013 Sunni-led protest movement against Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.