Former Iraqi Air Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Anwar Hama Amin, escaped from police forces after he was convicted of corruption, according to conflicting Iraqi media reports.
Amin was sentenced to two years in prison and managed to escape with the help of his guards.
Amin was born in Kirkuk and is of Kurdish descent. He served as an Air Force commander since 2008 and participated in the war against ISIS before he retired in 2019.
Mystery seems to prevail in the case of Amin's escape and accusation, with some security sources claiming he was arrested after his escape attempt. However, sources in the Karkh Criminal Court, west of Baghdad, confirm that the security forces have failed to apprehend him so far.
Iraqi security authorities did not comment on the incident or issue an official statement.
Security sources reported that the former commander escaped during his transfer from court to prison. The security forces cordoned off the area to search for him.
After the ruling was issued, a unit was called to transfer the detainee to the prison. The detainee asked to bring his clothes and other stuff from his vehicle that his nephew, a colonel, was driving.
The detainee got in the vehicle accompanied by a lieutenant. The colonel drew his pistol, pointed it at the lieutenant's head, and threatened to kill him if he did not get out of the car.
The colonel and the arrested man fled towards the al-Adl neighborhood in Baghdad. The street was immediately blocked, and the vehicle was stopped before the detainee got off and ran to an unknown destination while the colonel was arrested.
An informed lawyer believes that the whole case is ambiguous, including the escape attempt.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that he finds the court's ruling mysterious because the judiciary did not find evidence to convict him except with something related to a sports club.
The lawyer said he is not sure whether the commander is wanted on other pending cases but believes Amin may have attended the court hoping that the charges would be dropped, and then he was surprised by the conviction.
The Federal Integrity Commission announced earlier that the ruling against the commander relates to violations in a contract for investing a plot of land allocated to the Air Force Sports Club.
