‘Person of interest’ arrested in Iraq
Hamad Rabah al-Hajami was arrested as part of a drug investigation, after a request from Australia
TIMES OF ISRAEL – Iraqi officials have arrested a man wanted by Australian Federal Police as a person of interest in the investigation into a spate of firebombings, including the antisemitic attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue, police said on Wednesday.
The December 2024 arson attack gutted much of the building.
Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador in August after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) traced the funding of the individuals who set fire to the synagogue — as well as the suspects in a Sydney arson attack targeting the Jewish community — to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (IRGC).
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security and that she had identified him as her “number one priority.”
Iraq’s National Centre for International Judicial Cooperation said in a statement that Kadhim Malik Hamad Rabah al-Hajami had been arrested as part of a drug investigation, after a request from Australia.
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