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.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS