A militant on trial in Turkey presided over an informal court that sentenced British engineer Kenneth Bigley to death by beheading, and knows where his decapitated body is, the militant's lawyer said on Thursday.
Lawyer Osman Karahan said Bigley's death sentence was based on Islamic law.
"According to Shariah, according to Islamic law, they sentenced him to death," Karahan said.
"He was guilty of helping non-believers in invading Muslim lands and providing all kinds of support, technical logistical support. Isn't that true?" he said.
Karahan said his client, Loa'i Mohammed Haj Bakr al-Saqa, was publicly declaring his role as head of the informal court now because he wanted Bigley's family "not to be too sad, because it was the decision of the court. He was executed according to the decision of the court and Islamic law."
Karahan said his client knew where Bigley's body was and said it would be announced at a press conference today. He did not say where the press conference would be held, or at what time.
Karahan is a devout Muslim who represents several al-Qaeda suspects and has been known to recite lengthy passages from the Koran in court.
He himself has been charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for allegedly giving money to one of his clients and a judge ordered him off al-Saqa's case for a year.
Asked whether al-Saqa killed Bigley himself, Karahan said it didn't matter.
"It doesn't matter. He was the head of the court. `It's my responsibility,'" he says.
Al-Saqa, a Turkish-speaking Syrian, is known for wild outbursts and for his unrepentant advocacy of violence in what he calls a holy war against non-Muslims.
He is standing trial in Turkey for his alleged role in the 2003 bombings of two synagogues, a British bank and the British Consulate-General in Istanbul that killed 58 people. Turkish prosecutors have called al-Saqa a "high-level al-Qaeda official."
At a court session in late March, al-Saqa refused to recognize the court's authority and was escorted from the courtroom screaming that he had fought a jihad and killed Americans.
Al-Saqa was captured in August after an accidental explosion led police to his house on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, from where he is alleged to have been plotting to blow up cruise ships carrying Israelis.
He is also suspected of being involved in the killing of a Turkish truck driver, and is accused of smuggling explosives into Turkey.
Bigley was beheaded in 2004 while working as an engineer in Iraq.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS