Alham Albashir, the prime suspect in a deadly bombing that ripped through the busy İstikal Street in central in İstanbul in November 2022, has been given seven consecutive aggravated life sentences and an additional 1,794 years in prison on various charges related to the attack, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Six people were killed and 99 were injured on November 13, 2022 when an explosion rocked İstiklal Avenue, a busy pedestrian street that runs through İstanbul’s central district of Beyoğlu.
The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court in May 2023 began to hear the trial of 36 defendants, 15 of whom were in pretrial detention, involved in the attack, including Albashir, the suspected Syrian perpetrator of the deadly explosion.
In the final hearing of the trial on Friday, the court handed down seven consecutive aggravated life sentences and an additional 1,794 years in prison to Albashir on charges of disrupting the unity and integrity of the state, murder, attempted murder and illegally possessing dangerous explosives. She was also fined TL 22,000 ($676).
The court found no grounds to convict her on charges of terrorist organization membership.
In her final remarks to the court, Albashir said she would not defend herself and would accept the sentence handed down.
Two of the defendants, Fatma Berkel and Ferhat Habeş, were each sentenced to 1,035 years on charges attempting to disrupt of the unity and integrity of the state, attempted murder and the provision of explosives to the perpetrator.
Twelve other defendants were given sentences of varying lengths from four to 17 years on a range of charges including human smuggling, tampering with evidence and aiding and abetting a criminal.
Twelve defendants were acquitted, while the files of 10 defendants were separated from the others.
The Turkish government says Albashir is a Syrian national trained by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies and has waged a deadly war for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.
However, surprising observers, the PKK and Syrian Kurdish militant group the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) have denied any role, raising questions on social media and elsewhere about the official line.
Kurdish Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) Co-chair Salih Muslim claimed in an interview with Fırat News Agency (ANF) in November 2022 that Albashir had links to the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
