Turkish court sentences seven al-Qaida suspects to life in prison for Istanbul bombings

The defendants, including Syrian Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa, were among 74 suspects standing trial for their alleged involvement in the attacks on Nov. 15 and Nov. 20, 2003, which killed 58 people and targeted two synagogues, the British consulate and a London-based bank. The court acquitted 26 of them while sentencing the rest to various prison terms between three years nine months and 18 years.

Al-Saqa who was charged with masterminding the bombings called on holy warriors to keep up their fight, declaring during final arguments in court earlier on Friday that "Victory is very near!"

"Hey my hero brothers! Do not worry for me. Victory is very near!" al-Saqa said in a brief statement to court.

"Beware, beware, don't give up for any reason!" he said, and also recited verses from the Koran.

Along with al-Saqa, the court also sentenced Harun Ilhan, who has taken responsibility for the bombings, Fevzi Yitiz, who helped built the truck bombs, and Yusuf Polat, who gave the final go-ahead for the synagogue attacks, to life in prison along with other leading defendants Baki Yigit, Osman Eken and Adnan Ersoz.

The court convicted all those seven of "attempting to change the (secular) constitutional regime with force," causing the deaths and wounding 647 people, "planning the bombings and providing resources."

Ersoz had admitted receiving weapons training in Afghanistan, listening to Osama bin Laden in person and fighting with Islamic militants in Chechnya.

The court sentenced several other defendants to various prison terms while acquitting some others.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett welcomed the convictions.

"These were abhorrent acts, two of which specifically targeted British interests," she said. "My thoughts at this difficult time are with those who lost relatives and friends, and those who were injured in these abominable acts of terrorism.

In his closing arguments, Ilhan criticized Turkey's secular system and expressed hope for the establishment of an Islamic state.

"We know that one day this regime will crumble and an Islamic regime will be established," he said. Turkey's government has Islamic roots, but its leaders are moderate and the powerful military is viewed as a champion of secular rule.

"Before the day comes that you wish you were Muslims... I invite you to become Muslims," Ilhan said in his address, reflecting his belief that most Turks are not devout followers of Islam.

"I invite you to Allah's religion, Islam," he repeated over and over.

"I am not a theoretician of al-Qaida. I am a warrior," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Ilhan as saying Friday.

The court sentenced Seyit Ertul, who like many of the defendants had admitted fighting in Afghanistan and Chechnya but has denied membership in al-Qaida, to 18 years in prison for being the ringleader of a local al-Qaida cell in the central Anatolian city of Konya.

"No one has brought forth the slightest document or proof that we were members of al-Qaida," Ertul had read from a 32-page statement while making his closing statement.

Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment for al-Saqa, 32, who is accused of giving Turkish militants about US$170,000 to carry out the attacks, and four other defendants believed to be ringleaders, including Ilhan.

The court sentenced al-Saqa's alleged accomplice, Syrian Hamid Obysi, to 12 1/2 years in prison for membership in al-Qaida, making bombs and faking identity cards.

The court sentenced 29 others to six years and three months in prison while sentencing the rest to three years and nine months in prison for helping the bombings.

Police say some suspected ringleaders fled the country after the attacks, and some reportedly died in Iraq while fighting U.S. forces.

Prosecutors said Osama bin Laden had personally ordered al-Saqa to organize the plot, even though some suspects have testified that al-Qaida was unhappy that the group abandoned an initial plan to attack a base used by the U.S. air force, and instead went after targets that involved killing Muslims.

Al-Saqa was arrested in the southern port city of Antalya in 2005, after explosives accidentally went off in a building he was using as a safe house, forcing him to flee. Turkish authorities say al-Saqa planned to blow up Israeli cruise ships in the Mediterranean.

The Syrian has said he led militants to fight Americans in Iraq, but never planned any attacks in Turkey.

Al-Saqa was sentenced in absentia by Jordan in 2002, along with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. air raid, for a failed plot to attack Americans and Israelis in Jordan with poison gas during millennium celebrations.

As the trial in Turkey drew to a close, Spain began trying 29 suspects in the 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks on Thursday, with the alleged mastermind in that case saying he had no involvement in the Madrid attacks. There is no known link between the Istanbul and Madrid bombings. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/